Drug (1988) User Reviews

Heartbreaking and brilliant

[sunlion · 8/10 · 10 January 2004]

This film will tear your heart out. You will laugh at times and at the same time gasp in horror. Not at the mummies that jump out from under a toilet lid with a knife in their teeth, but at the tipping of the scales that measure the humanity of the main character, the run-down alcoholic.

//------------SPOILERS-----------------// The story is almost in Bulgakov`s style. The half-mad from drinking man is encountered by a talking dog. The dog takes interest in him and tries to get him to stop drinking. To watch it is very funny and at the same time you keep thinking - my God, how low can a man get himself in this depth ? And why ?! It can be attributed not only to drinking. In it`s place could be drug abuse, gambling or just immorality and egoism as a sickness. In an agony of wanting to get a drink the man is calling for the dog exterminators who drag the dog away. This is like falling of an ax, the steel one over the dog`s head and one of the other kind over the head of the man. The very last moment of the film shows the dog walking back into the room. You are left wandering is it really happening. If not for this last moment, the film would be so sharply heartbreaking that it would be almost impossible to watch.

very impressive macabre and grotesque drama - or should I say tragedy

[FFC · 9/10 · 17 April 2000]

Even in Russia where alcoholism is a national scourge and - to say so - national art's topic - there are not many movies that shows with such vividness and strenghth all the hell and total chaos and insanity of the life of a alco-path. You must see this man, his flat which looks like Hell landscape and his doings that are caricature and horrible at the same time - REALLY horrible since that man ends violating moral law... And betrayal of a friend - the only being sympathized him and one sent to save him - plunged this man into "outer darkness where is weeping and gnashing of teeth". Still the man is not evil in himself - he's possessed. And in the moments of sobriety his suffering are sharp. One of the best works of splendid Sergei Shakurov. Also the film is notable as animal movie - the spectator is just completely charmed by this second figure in the story - Newfoundland dog called Drug (Friend)... The songs and poetry by Alexander Rosenbaum also worth noting

The most powerful film about addiction ever made

[vadim-berman · 10/10 · 11 June 2013]

Easily the most dismal of all Soviet movies, and one of the most powerful ones, if not the most powerful. The brilliant performance of Shakurov and Livanov's voice-over, coupled with the haunting guitar soundtrack by Rosenbaum, are impossible to forget.

Probably the reason why the film is relatively obscure, is that it is so heartbreaking and difficult to watch, unlike the majority of the warm and fuzzy Soviet films in 1970s - 1980s.

A talking dog (the only fictional device in this movie, not counting the reverence of the main character to the "Pravda" newspaper) is trying to cure an alcoholic Kolyun of the worst kind of his addiction. Kolyun is stuck in a blue-collar job, lives alone, and gave up the idea of making his life better in any way. It wasn't always like this; Kolyun was a talented musician and had a family, which is now ashamed of what he has become. In one of the most powerful scenes, the dog asks Kolyun to swear with anything important to him that he will not drink. Kolyun answers, "I have nothing to swear with".

The movie takes us through the entire attempt of recovery. The ending is ambiguous, and can be construed as either happy or unhappy ending. The result is a scary and realistic close-up of alcoholic addiction. Highly recommended, both to Russophone and non-Russophone viewers.

One of the best movies of the later Soviet era

[envy_homunculus · 9/10 · 20 September 2023]

A rather inconspicuous movie for the Soviet cinema, but an indicative border between two eras of the USSR.

The movie is about a drunkard and his talking dog. The magical dog tries his best to set the owner on the right path of self-betterment.

This film is completely straightforward, simple in every dialogue between an alcoholic and a dog, in their every movement, in every frame. Even shots that show the seasons passing by. This is how time passes for the protagonist, who lives without a reason, only drinks to forget himself.

The viewer's opinion on the protagonist gradually changes from one act to another, from anger to pity. The introduction of a dog into the plot of such an aimless existence completely removed social aspects and discussions about the weakness of character. He got rid of unnecessary drama, pathos and sermons, focusing on the semantic part and on the friendship between a man and an animal. In such a disposition no metaphors are needed; rethinking can occur directly through the demonstration of the subconscious.

And even though the ending of such a story is filled with tragedy, there is still hope for a successful outcome, since friendship has the necessary functionality of revenue and salvation. Friendships have always been the bridge between comedy and tragedy. In this simpleSoviet magical realism, they evoke in the viewer the most important and broadest emotions.