Addiction in Film - Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story and Anonymous Sister
This piece is dedicated to my friend Amy who guest wrote the first Addiction in Film essay for my previous website, Awards Wiz.
Here at brianwhisenant.com and Awards Wiz before it, writing about film and TV shows that centered around addiction has always been important to me - at least since I fully understood the extent of my own addiction back in 2014.
Occasionally I freelance for other sites that give me an opportunity to reach a larger audience as I did last year with the piece I wrote about the Emmy nominated “Dopesick” for Awards Watch, a show that I had procrastinated watching because I knew that it would do exactly what it did – infuriate me.
Last week, I received emails about two documentary films, “Anonymous Sister” and “Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story” and reached out for screeners.
Anonymous Sister
“Anonymous Sister,” directed by Jamie Boyle is a first hand account of the opioid epidemic, told through interviews and home video, beginning at childhood, much of which was filmed by Boyle when she was young.
I’ve seen a number of films about addiction, but I have to say watching Jamie’s sister Jordan and their mother Julie simultaneously addicted and seeking recovery is truly one of the most fascinating portrayals of the confusion that occurs for drug addicts and their families in denial.
Seeing Jordan go to hospitals and doctors, clearly sick and being prescribed the thing that is causing the problem is as profound as anything we have seen in recent narrative stories. The same can be said for when Jordan describes Opiate use as not feeling high, but feeling happiness. I have said and heard many times that drugs are a solution before they become the problem, and if they weren’t fun or didn’t make us feel good, many would likely not become emotionally addicted in the first place. With opiates, the physical addiction is swift and the combination of the chase for happiness, for becoming “well,” along with what they do to the spirit when you can’t stop is heartbreaking and life threatening. We see all of that with this great documentary.
After “Dopesick” and “All the Beauty and the Bloodshed” I thought I had seen enough to sufficiently hate the Sackler family, the creators of Oxycontin. And yet seeing actual footage from the news at the time, knowing that the pain scale was generated by them and is still in place today…the Purdue “infomercials”…the lies they told to doctors knowing they got away with murder and billions is almost too much to process. It makes me wonder what lies we are being told today in regard to addiction treatment.
Although I found the film both engaging and original I was a bit surprised by a somewhat tossed in revelation near the film’s ending. I don’t want to spoil that here, but I wish it had been possible to delve more (or at all really) into what the director reveals about the family’s current relationship. When we get clean and into recovery, that doesn’t stop the shifts that occur with friends and family. It is really just the beginning. That seems to have happened here, but instead of going deeper, Boyle opens the door to a question that, from what I have gathered in interviews, she is also unwilling to answer.
Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story
Heading into “Relighting Candles The Time Sullivan Story,” (directed by Zeberiah Newman & Michiel Thomas) I thought I was watching another feature, but instead it was a delightful, perfectly paced and succinct documentary that can be seen in theaters in Los Angeles this week (through September 29th)!
The film follows Tim Sullivan, a candlemaker in West Hollywood in long term recovery who employs other people in recovery, some new and previously homeless, to bring his candles - and in truth, these people as well, to life!
Similarly to “Anonymous Sister,” there are nuggets here that feel as if being heard for the first time. When Sullivan talks about the early days of drinking, he calls it a “prepper” for going out into the world of dating men, at a time where being out wasn’t necessarily an easy thing.
I was thrilled to see some familiar faces from my personal life in the footage, knowing exactly how far they had come since being filmed many years ago. In a mere twenty minutes the film says so much, including the dire situation Los Angeles is currently facing in regard to rising rents/costs. Luckily, the film and TIm has a happy ending in this regard.
The other man-made epidemic
There is a theme in most films and TV shows dealing with opiate use and that is the fact that this is a man-made epidemic. Specifically in regard to the Sackler family/Oxy and fentanyl.
It is incredibly important to continue to draw attention toward the opioid epidemic as more and more people continue to die from overdoses. In addition to this, I can’t help but think of my own life and how for me, it’s the crystal meth crisis that I see every day affecting people I love.
When watching “Anonymous Sister” and thinking about how our country’s politicians on the right seem to be trying to reverse time in regard to LGBTQIA+ rights I wondered, would we have the crystal meth crisis ravaging the community if being gay was accepted in the first place. If our own existence wasn’t challenged from even before we know that we are queer ourselves. Would we turn to this drug as a way to love ourselves if our parents didn’t reject us when we came out or if our neighbors didn’t tell us how they really feel about us with their votes for people who want to eradicate us? This is also a man made crisis. Made with hate.
RELIGHTING CANDLES: THE TIM SULLIVAN STORY
IN THEATERS: SEPTEMBER 22 - SEPTEMBER 29
Lumiere Music Hall in Los Angeles
ANONYMOUS SISTER