So why the five stars, you ask? Because this film, while borrowing heavily from its sources, is still entirely original and innovative. Swedish born director, Jonas Akerlund has taken his music video sensibility and "tweaked" it to an extreme, combining visual and aural sensations in entirely novel ways. The camera work must be seen to be believed. Reviewers who denigrate the script are missing the point. This movie is about the camera. This is not herky-jerky, cinema verite, hand held camera work we're talking about here. This is carefully story-boarded, minutely crafted creativity at play. There are shots that could only have occured to a director who is either as crazy as his characters are (or as drug addled) or to someone possessing something along the lines of cinematic genius. Maybe it's a combination of all these. As this is Akerlund's first foray into feature films, I guess we'll just have to wait for his next movie (Lords of Dogtown, in pre-production) to decide. Don't worry yourselves about from whom, or from what, Akerlund is borrowing. Real artists worth their salt openly acknowledge that they're only building on the works of those who have come before them. I have a sneaking suspicion that Akerlund might be an artist to reckon with in the future.

BEK

9 of 10 found the following review helpful:

Burning the Candle at Both Ends  Jan 18, 2005
By Ian Vance
I decided to rent this film after reading reports of a serious methamphetamine epidemic in my hometown. Already having some brief experience with this scene and its denizens - some acquaintances of mine in college indulged/abused the substance - I pretty much knew what to expect, and in that regard *Spun* hit all the right notes, reconfirming the horrid extremities that make up this by-the-moment existence of abuse, degradation and constant, unsatisfied addiction.

*Spun* chronicles three days ("three? or four? or three?") in the transient lives of So-Cal tweakers. The characters are vividly drawn, complete with excellent costume-garb and cartoonish titles. We begin with: the paranoid dealer Spider Mike (John Leguizamo), his filthy girlfriend Cookie (Mena Suvari), and a necronerd ADD poseur by the name of Frisbee. These, however, are periphery to the triumvirate of Ross (Jason Schwartzman), a greasy-looking everyman; Nikki (Brittany Murphy) a implausible-fit methhead whom he meets at Spider Mike's, and her paramour The Cook (Mickey Rourke), a meth-chemist, pusher and stoned philosopher. The `plot' consists of this cast scoring, snorting, smoking and/or shooting their drug of choice, and how, afterward, the ways they seek to acquire more tweak and/or cope with said lifestyle.

To be more specific, the main thread of *Spun* hinges around Ross carting Nikki and The Cook about in his battered Volvo on various missions, scoring little bags of dope as a reward. "How long have you managed to stay up on this stuff?" Ross asks The Cook during one such errand. "Twelve or thirteen days," Mickey Rourke replies in a typical performance: the cowboy-burnout, world-weary and impeccably `cool': but this method of madness actually enhances *Spun* tremendously. Rourke gives a standout performance in his career, and the tenuous relationship of mentor/protégé between Ross and The Cook slowly exposes, by jerk and twitter, the unifying thread by which these people manage to make it day-in, day-out: burning the candle at both ends, looking ever forward to the next hit and ignoring the damage wrought in the meantime.

It's rather unfortunate that *Spun* borrows quite heavily from a number of films, for the audience finds itself forced to compare the movie with its predecessors. *Requiem for a Dream* is the most obvious influence, with the constant eye-surge shots and several key editing techniques, as is *Trainspotting* - the opening monologue practically invites comparison - and indeed, the juxtaposition of grimy addiction-subsistence and zany humor makes *Spun* a photo negative of the latter example. *Trainspotting* worked in large part to its `lust for life', the strangely uplifting quality to the writing and character development. The same cannot be said for this film: despite moments of earned levity and some truly bizarre animation sequences (the video-game hallucination standing out as particularly disturbing to these eyes), *Spun* is dark, negative and grim - just like meth - but it fails to successfully balance its humor and drama, struggling to find even ground in the integration of tragedy and comedy.

This unevenness is epitomized in the undercover cop subplot, which should have been excised from the film in my opinion, or at least radically reworked. For 1) it's not particularly funny, at least not anywhere near as funny as it tries to be 2) it's a cliché 3) it comes off contrived, breaking the spell of the movie, and 4) the attempted parody - 70's style copper-drama editing and dialogue - serves in ultimately subverting the pain and emotive catharsis intrinsic in the meth-abuse material.

Still, the way the director manages to combine and build upon his varied influences suggests an artist who has skillfully emulated and synthesized these elements a la Quintin Tarentino; hopefully on future films he will be able to step beyond homage and fashion something (breathtakingly) original. Above all else, *Spun* certainly shows promise.

~Potential Spoilers:~
The last image, beautifully shot, can be taken literally... but I wonder, given the (general) competence The Cook displays throughout. Rather, I prefer to see it as a symbol for how these addicts subsist: fuel for the constant burn.
~End Spoilers~

World religions tend to focus on the dichotomy of a Heaven and a Hell - tranquility for the blessed, punishment for the wicked. In my view, Heaven and Hell is a metaphor for how people choose to spend their lives; and for a fairly accurate scrutiny of Hell in its refined form, look no further than *Spun* and its assortment of damned souls. One glimpse should be enough.

9 of 11 found the following review helpful:

"I'm just killing what I can't take care of."  Mar 22, 2006
By Schtinky "Schtinky"
'Spun' follows the lives of several methamphetamine addicts through their wasted, roller coaster days, but this is not your ordinary 'drug' film. The ambience and atmosphere is so in-tuned with this degenerated culture that you can smell the illegal drugs cooking. Giving the plot away would be moot, since it is a portrayal of everyday life for people of this particular scene.

So, what separates 'Spun' from the rest of the drug flicks? Gritty realism, hilariously bizarre scenes, atmosphere, some great acting, and a complete lack of fear on the part of the creator and the director to dive into the nastiest of behaviors and expose them as pathetic and comical.

The sets are what you will see in real life meth houses. The dress and behavior of the characters is very realistic. My only real problem with the movie is that some of the jerk/flash camera work gets a little annoying, but still serves its purpose of bringing the "tweak" to the screen.

Interspersed in the film are some ridiculous cartoon scenes that are a riot, and two cops that parody TV shows like "Cops" and "Bounty Hunters", along with flash stills and hilarious action music. I am going to be haunted forever by the Spider Mike (John Leguizamo) scene where he is jumping up and down on the bed with a sock on his unit while abusing himself. You'll see what I mean, Leguizamo is brilliant in his role.

Mickey Rourke has proven himself to be quite an actor, a chameleon who can adapt to any role. In 'Spun', he plays The Cook, a nasty loosing white trash cowboy type who cooks the dope for the gang. Watch for Ross's (Jason Schwartzman) hallucination of The Cook's all-American speech in the video store. "Ask not what the kitty can do for you (substitute the 'P' word for kitty), but what you can do for the kitty."

Look for a surprising performance from Brittany Murphy (Just Married, Sin City) as Nikki. The more I see of Brittany's work, the more I like her as an actress. Eric Roberts (playing The Man) may have had one bad role after another, but his part in 'Spun' is perfect for him and very well done. The Man, with his earring and his muscle boys and his overdone lisp was too funny to watch. Roberts worked with Rourke in 'The Pope Of Greenwich Village' back in the early 80's, and its plain that they still mesh as actors.

Watch for Debra Harry (80's group Blondie) as Ross's nosy neighbor, and Ron Jeremy, the king of p*rn, as the bartender in the strip club. All in all, 'Spun' is a movie with a serious twist that will leave you laughing in the wake of the character's bizarre activities. This is one of the best drug/bad behavior movies I have watched, right up there with 'Requiem For A Dream' and 'Kids'. Truly, a must-see movie. Enjoy!



4 of 4 found the following review helpful:

Three Days of a Junkie in the Valley: Occasionally Funny  Jul 01, 2004
By Tsuyoshi
"Spun" follows the three days of one name "Ross" (Jason Schwartzman) who always needs some chemical substance, and has no will of his own. But "Spun" is free from violence, typical image associated with this kind of anti-hero; instead, it features the incredibly explicit sexual matters that would either disgust or enetrtain you, and a very realistic portrait of the guy who is leading an aimless life.

And like his aimless life, "Spun" at first seems going on without particular sense of story. But to be fair, it has several funny moments, mainly coming from Leguizamo and Rourke, both something to do with sexual things. In fact, the film gets better as it goes on, especially after the plot about the police and its documentary is introduced. The police raid scene shot in the mock police docu-style is not to be missed.

The film virtually about Ross, who works for a drug dealer (and maker) "The Cook" played by Mickey Rourke. Around them you see many strange people, some on drug, all seemingly unemployed but do not care about it. They all have some unique personality, as the unique cast represent -- see the following list as ...

John Leguizamo as "Spider" in leather pants; Mena Suvari as "Cookie," his love (with one scene that could be career killing in bathroom); Britney Murphey as "Nikki" living with "The Cook" (and she really loves her green-painted dog); Patrick Fugit as incredibly gross-out "Frisbee" directly coming from the "Pink Flanmingo" family; Deborah Harry as "Lesbian Neighbor" and Eric Roberts as "The Man"

Also, you see the faces like Larry Drake, Charlotte Ayanna, Peter Stormare and Alexis Arquette, the last two being "The Cops."

Swedish director Jonas Akerlund, famous for his numerous music videos, brings all of his techniques into this film, in which few things happen. Overflowing light and slanted camera angles with a fast cutting work at first, but gradually get tedious. Still, the music is good, handled by Billy Corgan (himself briefly seen as "The Doctor").

Quite unusual film, even including animation sections, "Spun" is so good at showing the aimless life of junkies that you might hate it because of the honesty. But the fact remains that some of the parts are truly hilarious, and Mickey Rourke (and his biceps) is quite impressive.

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