2009. 93 minutes. Rated R.
Cook County – Red Nose Productions
“Until I got two sticks I can rub together I feel a little bit responsible.”
In Director David Pomes’ Cook County, Abe (Ryan Donowho) is a high school kid living with his wreckless, meth-addicted Uncle “Bump” (Anson Mount) and grandfather, Tommy Townsend.
Abe’s father Sonny (popular character actor Xander Berkeley) returns clean from a prison with a genuine desire to rebuild his life, reconnect with his son, and help him do the same. But, his intention is seen as a threat to the volatile Bump.
The drug addicts in this film are frenetic, selfish and completely powerless. Every line is believable and every action accurate. Bump’s six year old daughter Deandra (Mekenna Fitzsimmons) meanders unsupervised, neglected, unfed, and constantly surrounded by degenerate addicts. Throughout the film, Deandra is protected as much is possible by the constantly stressed out, desperate, and possibly dabbling Abe. The film’s climax includes a gritty scene depicting a delusional Bump trying to persuade his fellow users to join in a money making scheme, and which evolves into a trade between himself and one of the men, a creeper who likes kids. Bump gives his unspoken approval to the man by leaving his sleeping daughter alone in the house with the pedophile while he takes the wad of cash and decides to go for a walk. (I know. Terrible.) The scene is so realistic and disturbing, but the most traumatizing part is its truthfulness. You know what Bump’s answer is before he does, and you know this crap goes down somewhere. This is a horrifyingly real, and the most anti-drug film, that I have seen in a long time.
There are a ton of intense depictions of drug addicts in movies, and even in those that don’t glamorize the lifestyle deliberately, the anti-drug message though intended still seems kind of absent. (Rush, Blow, Trainspotting, even Requiem for a Dream.) While these are great movies that give an honest portrayal of addiction, I’ve always felt that there is something glammy to Hollywood drug movies. Requiem for a Dream was disturbing as Hell, but it seemed like a movie. Yes, Trainspotting was very anti-heroin,( I totally get that), but the surrealism and soundtrack kind of made it, though perhaps unintentional, hip. Of course, this doesn’t deter from the darker scenes: dead neglected baby, horrific reality of detoxing, etc. Finally, though these films succeed in producing anti-drug sentiment, and are generally awesome movies, Rush, Blow, Trainspotting, Requiem for a Dream, and Candy feature attractive people also. And that is really what kills it for me. There is nothing attractive about this lifestyle, and Cook County tells the truth. Featuring no-names who look as though they hungrily loiter the dirt roads of Texas in seek of the nearest meth den, Cook County brings a raw realism and zero romanticism (Harmony Korine’s Kids, came to mind.)
Maybe I should revisit all of the above- mentioned films to double check the showiness verses the “just say no” factor, but there is something so disarming and authentically raw, not to mention unnerving about Cook County. It could be the fact that it takes place in the boonies of Texas, a place very unfamiliar to me, yet with the typical American woes that ring loud and clear. Addicts going nowhere fast, an obligatory meth house fire and kitchen now used to cook drugs, a poor dirt covered child who’s innocence you suspect is constantly threatened by her wastoid father, and the sickening chokehold the drugs have on her family and how close she is to getting ensnared into this world.
The final scenes are extremely violent though highly satisfying, offering only some sense of hope. While there is a resolution and a starting over, there is a strong sense of trauma that will obviously stay with the remaining characters forever. This indie is not for the faint of heart, but if you appreciate truth and authenticity in the characters and depictions present in the darkness of everyday life, you won’t want to skip it.
