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reviews
Rock Bottom: Gay Men and Meth
Review by Ronnie Scheif, Variety, March 2007
An Outcast Films release of a Wringing Hands Films production in
association with Lovett Prods. and Weild Films. Produced by Colin
A. Weil, Jay Corcoran. Executive producer, Joseph Lovett. Directed
by Jay Corcoran.
Hourlong, down-and-dirty DV-shot docu "Rock Bottom" follows
seven gay men in New York City over a two-year period as they struggle
with crystal meth addiction, responsible for an alarming spike in
the spread of HIV. Helmer Jay Corcoran examines the growing "crystal
sex" phenomenon where it breeds -- the bathhouses, locker rooms,
porn sets and bedrooms of those for whom sex is inseparable from
meth use. Improbably opening theatrically at Gotham's Quad Cinema,
this remarkably candid, X-ratable cautionary tale is amassing some
positive critical buzz on its way to more video-friendly venues.
In no way judgmental, Corcoran allows his subjects to explain, with
varying degrees of self-knowledge and denial, the peculiar allure
of crystal meth, particularly to those who are HIV-positive and
are dealing with the fastidious maintenance, limitations and anxieties
occasioned by the virus. They describe the rush of empowerment and
the liberation of libido that lets them enjoy sex without thought
or precaution. The drug may also, as they ruefully admit, eventually
make them incapable of sex, or take nine hours to reach orgasm,
or ignore the blatant signs of gonorrhea (described by one user
in ghoulish detail), or even secretly glory in the spread of AIDS.
All of the subjects showcased here are or have been endeavoring
to get clean. Corcoran catches up with each of them at varying stages
of addiction, sobriety and backsliding. Since sex is a trigger for
crystal meth addicts, of all the men interviewed, only a playwright
who has been clean for five years has been able to reintegrate sex
back into his sober life. In earlier stages, others are forced to
radically alter their behavior or abstain entirely for a year in
order to kick the habit.
The interviewees prove fascinating in their diversity; Corcoran
maintains an intimacy and even suspense within the men's wry confessionals.
Blessedly brief interviews with health-care professionals ring hollow
by comparison.
Docu succeeds surprisingly well in illuminating the fearsome grip
of crystal meth, which, in giving users a false feeling of invincibility,
is undoing years of careful HIV control.
Tech credits are suitably primitive in this zero-budget DV-shot
expose, though the docu's sound quality is particularly rough in
patches.
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