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FOO-FOO DUST

By Doug Brunell | January 15, 2004

One thing I love about drug addicts is that they always make me feel better about my life. That’s about the only thing I like about them, though. I don’t have much pity for them and have even less patience for their antics. It’s a weak existence, and that is proven by this wonderful, short documentary titled “Foo-Foo Dust.”

Directors Gina Levy and Eric Johnson turn their cameras on Stephanie and Tony, a mother and son junkie combo. She likes crack; he’s way into heroin. Together they live from eviction to eviction, trick to trick, overdose to overdose, and we get to see it all in glorious color. Along the way, we learn a bit about this family, but it’s nothing you’d want to put on a Christmas card.

Stephanie is a college grad who does a lot of “caregiving” for sick people (she seems immune to the irony, though), while Tony once had a fiance and a baby on the way. Those good ol’ days are over, though, and now they spend their time doing drugs in a filthy hotel room in that San Francisco cancer known as the Tenderloin District. Of course they fight with each other and claim they need rehab, but they never really do anything to straighten out their lives. Maybe they know an impossible battle when they see it, or maybe the brutality of their world has finally hit home.

This documentary depicts the life of an addict quite competently. (I once lived with one, so I know.) Some people may watch this and feel compassion for these two, and they may even shed a tear. I just look at them as an example of how not to live a life. They are wreckage, and it’s my guess that anyone associating themselves with them will soon find themselves burning among the debris. Such is the way of the junkie, foo-foo dust and all. If anything, maybe grammar school kids should see this and learn the reality of drug addiction. I guarantee it will work better than any D.A.R.E. program.

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  1. Dominic says:

    The fact that you need to turn to watching people at their rock bottom in order
    to feel better about yourself is quite telling. While they may be addicted and you may not feel
    pity… They don’t want or need your pity, all they want is their addiction to be met. That’s the
    Nature of the beast.

    I will bet money, that you are a fat, worthless terd of a human being who has his own addiction
    To dungeons and dragons, blogging in your moms basement and ho-ho’s. That is my opinion
    Of your review, and consequently of you as a human being… Just as you have passed judgment
    On those who are in this movie. Don’t quit your day job. Your review sucks s**t and so do you.

  2. Tony aka dimitri says:

    Well that junkie your talking about is me. And damn does it sound like u hate people like me. Just 2 let you know,I’v been clean 4 about 5 years,just got a new Corvette and am buying a house soon…! So i gess we can be a part of this world. Just not your world. Ps. Not trying 2 hate,just teaching that all hopes not lost just cuz you f****d up part of your life. PROOF

    • Jonah says:

      I just wanted to say that I’ve shown a lot of people your documentary. I may not have if you didn’t comment, but knowing that you were able to overcome the strife and kill the gorillas on your back is very inspiring.

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