Doc Watch: Addictions

 

ALL THE BEAUTY AND THE BLOODSHED (B) - Overlong and sluggish, this appreciation of avant-garde photographer Nan Goldin and her crusade against the Sackler family's Oxycontin empire suffers from a bit of an identity crisis. It is torn between homage and polemic.

Laura Poitras ("Citizenfour") takes an unusually solemn tone, dwelling on Goldin's early family tragedy and rough upbringing to bathe this biography in pathos. This is sophisticated filmmaking, but it creaks under the weight of a full two hours. 

Half the movie is about Goldin's groundbreaking photography from New York's punk era and her work within the alternative scene.  The other half is about Goldin, a former junkie herself, leading protests against the Sackler family and their art philanthropy. Poitras uses the 1980s AIDS epidemic as a bridge between those worlds. However, each of the stories here keeps getting interrupted. It's as if she has two (maybe even three) good hour-long films here, but the stories detract from and trip over each other too often. It's a simple lack of focus.

Poitras doesn't do herself any favors when she allows the film to be hijacked by an extended detour featuring activist artist David Wojnarowicz, a relentless AIDS activist who just a year ago was the subject of a much sharper documentary. His presence reminds us of how raw and insurgent both activism and filmmaking can be. By contrast, Poitras seems overly reverent toward someone who survived a wild youth and now is placated with a prim retrospective in old age.

Poitras takes on a lot here, and much of it is impressive. If only it congealed into something a little more urgent or compelling.

TAKE YOUR PILLS: XANAX (B+) - Here's another surprisingly solid documentary from Netflix (see also "Money Shot" about Pornhub), a level-headed look at anxiety in the modern digital world and how Big Pharma offers an enticing solution.

Director Blair Foster and writer Claire Gordon keep this at a healthy pace as they alternate between psychologists delving into the pluses and minuses of Xanax and regular folk who both sing the drug's praises but also warn of its deleterious effects. One man in particular conveys the horrors trying to withdraw after building up his tolerance for decades (suicidal thoughts can be a serious consequence). Another, journalist Scott Stossel, describes anxiety in terms of any other physical condition that must be regulated with well-regulated meds. One young woman discusses the shame that Xanax users face.

Foster and Gordon keep the science simple and straightforward. They explore the ills of a society driven to the edge by social media and other pressures. But they never settle for facile arguments or shoot at easy targets. This is not a hit job Pfizer or any other drug company. The film is thoughtful and considerate of all sides of the debate.