The lead character renders a real portrayal of a real alcoholic. The acting is good to the point that you are forced to wonder if they got a real alcoholic to act in the movie! The support characters' performances are OK and 'almost' there. There is an overall darkness in the movie without any redeeming qualities. There appears to be an attempt to portray the obsessions, or the hidden darkness, of people with addictions and the people without. But this aspect is not made clear, or explored. I personally had an uncle who was never sober. He died when he was 42 years old from severe liver damage from alcoholism. That said, this movie perhaps tries to be a deterrent to viewers taking up the bottle. I don't see the point. I am not sure if it is effective in that message either. The bottle is taken up, even as this movie acknowledges, as a method of slow suicide. A brokenhearted or suicidal person taking to the bottle has already stopped caring about oneself or others, there is no real message or redemption in the movie. I felt that the movie took something away, my time, my desire to understand, and so on. The movie gave nothing. No entertainment, no real message. It left me depressed and regretting watching the movie. Hence only 4 stars. Just a fair warning.
Review of Alcoholist
