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reviews
Addiction, Magnified
Review by Stephen Holden, New York Times, Published: March 1, 2007
"You always miss it: that world and that escape, that kind
of sex," observes Peter Staley in Jay Corcoran's riveting,
X-ray-acute documentary "Rock Bottom." Mr. Staley, an
articulate, gay, H.I.V.-positive recovering methamphetamine user,
has gained notice in recent years for showering the Chelsea neighborhood
of Manhattan with posters bluntly connecting the popularity of crystal
meth with rising rates of H.I.V. infection.
"Rock Bottom," filmed over two and a half years in digital
video, is a ground-level examination of the crystal meth epidemic
in gay New York. It follows seven men struggling with addiction,
showing them high and sober. One dies of complications from drug
use and diabetes. The difference in appearance between those under
the drug's influence and the same men after a few months of sobriety
is startling. Tweakers, as meth users are called, are cadaverous,
pallid creatures with bad skin and phosphorescent eyes who chatter
as if possessed; sober, the same men appear calm, healthy and optimistic.
Although experts are consulted, "Rock Bottom" is not
a finger-wagging jeremiad. A graphic study of sex and drug addiction,
it goes way beyond the pieties of the recovery and therapy movements
to confront deeper questions about the pursuit of sensation.
The bravado that a jolt of speed gives to men with shaky self-esteem
in a still homophobic culture is an element of its appeal. But as
men describe the intensified and prolonged pleasure of sex with
meth, you realize that it belongs to the same category of sensation-seeking
as race-car driving, skydiving and gambling.
A craving for delirious excitement may be hard-wired into the
male psyche, and danger is a crucial component of whatever gratifies
it. In a certain segment of gay society, sex is the competitive
sport of choice. As with steroids in the athletic arena, for some
players, gaining an edge is worth any risk, even if it kills you.
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