After the first 2 minutes of the film, I had to stop and search IMDB to see if this was a real doc or a mockumentary (e.g. Found footage). At the opening we are introduced to three crooks, and later a girlfriend that are so over the top, brazen and ridiculous in their escapades that I could not believe it was real. LOC walks through a landscape of knucklehead families, parentless children, petty theft, a broken criminal justice system, prostitution, AIDS, job loss in America, etc..
Early on we are then introduced to their family life and circle of friends that are not much better off than them. One guys father appears so broken and beaten in life he flinches each time his son makes an animated or sudden move. Parental abuse? A girlfriend is openly beaten by another guy over her pregnancy, they have only been dating a month. From here it spirals revealing the almost impossible task of escaping this life and its environment. After long stints in prison, they all come out with a more sober view of the world intent on change, but it is tough to make it materialize.
At times I felt the director was almost too removed in achieving his product. At one point a 6-year-old sits in an open window on the second floor. After he gets his shot, he points it out to his older (10 yo?) sister who tells him to get down. There are several times the director can be heard asking questions that are almost ghoulish and exploitative. I guess usually we don't hear the prompting questions from other directors.
Regardless, I was going to give it a 9, but the way this hit me emotionally I bumped it up to a 10. Where "Cape Cod Heroin" and "Dope Sick Love" stopped short of really showing the amount of crime that goes with addiction, LOC stays with it.
Early on we are then introduced to their family life and circle of friends that are not much better off than them. One guys father appears so broken and beaten in life he flinches each time his son makes an animated or sudden move. Parental abuse? A girlfriend is openly beaten by another guy over her pregnancy, they have only been dating a month. From here it spirals revealing the almost impossible task of escaping this life and its environment. After long stints in prison, they all come out with a more sober view of the world intent on change, but it is tough to make it materialize.
At times I felt the director was almost too removed in achieving his product. At one point a 6-year-old sits in an open window on the second floor. After he gets his shot, he points it out to his older (10 yo?) sister who tells him to get down. There are several times the director can be heard asking questions that are almost ghoulish and exploitative. I guess usually we don't hear the prompting questions from other directors.
Regardless, I was going to give it a 9, but the way this hit me emotionally I bumped it up to a 10. Where "Cape Cod Heroin" and "Dope Sick Love" stopped short of really showing the amount of crime that goes with addiction, LOC stays with it.