Director Jonas Akerlund, with a background in music videos, employs a select variety of sound, camera, and editing techniques, not to mention some effectively trippy cartoon graphics, to inject his vision of the crystal-meth binge into our psyche. Couple this with a band of completely eccentric meth-junkies, visceral costume work, a fantastic and eerie soundtrack by Billy Corgan, and bleached, washed-out cinematography, capturing the dull hues and tints of the grime infesting each characters' life, and the result is a compulsively watchable, almost addictive little piece of drug cinema. It's an homage to a wide array of films, most obviously Requiem For A Dream and Pink Flamingo's, but this isn't pretentious movie-making; the intentions are sincere.
Story-wise, the film doesn't have much going for it. Granted, many scenes are utterly spontaneous and enjoyable, and the dialogue has a certain consistency, but this film takes pride in the fact that it's a sensational experience, perhaps creating a parallel to the reved-up world of amphetamine abusers, and doesn't seem to care too much about story.
This, unfortunately, is the film's downfall, and it's greatest failure. By the end, the audience isn't sure whether this is a film that embraces the drug world, making it seem lighter and cooler than it really is, or a film condoning all substance use. Maybe it's a bit of both, and that's the issue - I feel that making a drug film is making a social statement. The movie needs to clearly either embrace drugs (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, for example), or explain why they ruin lives (Requiem For A Dream). "Spun" does neither. It's an experience, but because of it's lack of moral structure, one that you may soon forget.
Story-wise, the film doesn't have much going for it. Granted, many scenes are utterly spontaneous and enjoyable, and the dialogue has a certain consistency, but this film takes pride in the fact that it's a sensational experience, perhaps creating a parallel to the reved-up world of amphetamine abusers, and doesn't seem to care too much about story.
This, unfortunately, is the film's downfall, and it's greatest failure. By the end, the audience isn't sure whether this is a film that embraces the drug world, making it seem lighter and cooler than it really is, or a film condoning all substance use. Maybe it's a bit of both, and that's the issue - I feel that making a drug film is making a social statement. The movie needs to clearly either embrace drugs (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, for example), or explain why they ruin lives (Requiem For A Dream). "Spun" does neither. It's an experience, but because of it's lack of moral structure, one that you may soon forget.