If you've ever wanted to see William Miller in a Larry Clark movie crossed with the hyper-reality of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, then look no further. SPUN is an unrated trip through crystal addiction with a lot of strong performances by an eclectic cast, but it faintly reeks of "been-there, done-that" syndrome.
Not that it's not entertaining as it goes along. A few days in the lives of various speed freaks produces all sorts of sleaze: Masturbation, phone sex, zits, rotting teeth, bowel movements, naked obesity, bondage, squalor, trashy reality TV, animation, pornography, animated pornography, and so on.
Max Fischer (Jason Schwarzbaum) is Ross, a casual addict who falls into the role of a chauffer of the local manufacturer, dubbed the Cook (Mickey Rourke, in the film's most realized performance), who's with Nikki (Brittany Murphy), who's overly concerned with the well-being of Taco, her green dog. Her best friend is Cookie (Mena Suvari), who's the girlfriend of the local drug distributor (John Leguizamo). ALMOST FAMOUS' Patrick Fugit, looking like he'd be right at home in Gummo, is the naive punk wannabe who is forced by the cops to rat on his supplier. On the fringes are Rob Halford, Debbie Harry, a fey Eric Roberts, and Dr. Giggles himself, Larry Drake. Meanwhile, Ross has got a stripper chained bare-ass naked to his bed while he drives both the Cook and Nikki around town, taking care of the local kingpin's professional needs and her neuroses and penchant for snorting crystal.
But this plot doesn't really matter. SPUN seems more concerned to ape the visual ideas of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, like the dilated pupils and jumps in sound effects. It doesn't exactly imitate REQUIEM, but the similarity seems more than a coincidence. And I'll mention again the animation: Think Ralph Bakshi's orgiastic imagination, and you'll begin to know just how gloriously perverted some of the whacked-out imagery is.
SPUN is certainly not boring, but it goes on too long. There's only so many visual effects one can withstand before all the visual volume becomes noise. But if you're craving KIDS meets TRAINSPOTTING, SPUN does just fine.
7/10
Not that it's not entertaining as it goes along. A few days in the lives of various speed freaks produces all sorts of sleaze: Masturbation, phone sex, zits, rotting teeth, bowel movements, naked obesity, bondage, squalor, trashy reality TV, animation, pornography, animated pornography, and so on.
Max Fischer (Jason Schwarzbaum) is Ross, a casual addict who falls into the role of a chauffer of the local manufacturer, dubbed the Cook (Mickey Rourke, in the film's most realized performance), who's with Nikki (Brittany Murphy), who's overly concerned with the well-being of Taco, her green dog. Her best friend is Cookie (Mena Suvari), who's the girlfriend of the local drug distributor (John Leguizamo). ALMOST FAMOUS' Patrick Fugit, looking like he'd be right at home in Gummo, is the naive punk wannabe who is forced by the cops to rat on his supplier. On the fringes are Rob Halford, Debbie Harry, a fey Eric Roberts, and Dr. Giggles himself, Larry Drake. Meanwhile, Ross has got a stripper chained bare-ass naked to his bed while he drives both the Cook and Nikki around town, taking care of the local kingpin's professional needs and her neuroses and penchant for snorting crystal.
But this plot doesn't really matter. SPUN seems more concerned to ape the visual ideas of REQUIEM FOR A DREAM, like the dilated pupils and jumps in sound effects. It doesn't exactly imitate REQUIEM, but the similarity seems more than a coincidence. And I'll mention again the animation: Think Ralph Bakshi's orgiastic imagination, and you'll begin to know just how gloriously perverted some of the whacked-out imagery is.
SPUN is certainly not boring, but it goes on too long. There's only so many visual effects one can withstand before all the visual volume becomes noise. But if you're craving KIDS meets TRAINSPOTTING, SPUN does just fine.
7/10