Blue Bag Life 2023

I usually find that documentaries that are made either directly or closely involving the subject are prone to a lack of objectivity - and I'm afraid I think this fell into that trap. It tells us of the fairly difficult life of Lisa Selby, a woman whose relationship with just about everyone of import in her circle of friends is/was tainted by addiction. Her only surviving video recording of a chat with her mother demonstrates that clearly as she discusses her preferred form of opiate. We're similarly introduced to her boyfriend Elliott who has tried to get clean but still has a love hate relationship with heroin. As it progresses, we are exposed to the grubbiness and squalor of existence when the next fix is all that matters, but we are also exposed to a degree of optimism as it's clear that both want to sort themselves out and have a baby that they, hopefully, will treat with better care and affection than she received herself. Thing with this is, it's far too long, the score is intrusively banal and I just couldn't find myself invested in her. Maybe because I personally know very little of addiction, nor of having something so dominate every aspect of your life - but that was the problem for me with this. It is too descriptive and one-dimensional. We see distress but it's usually delivered via (barely audible) telephone conversation or video diary and i just found I could neither empathise nor sympathise as the story recycled itself into a mire of potential self destruction. Where did they get the drugs? How did they pay for the drugs? The booze? I cannot pretend that the idea of a child here was ever going to be a very good idea, either - however well intentioned. It's real, raw and gritty - but it just didn't click with me, sorry.

— CinemaSerf