DVDS

Written Off: "The Journals Will Explain Everything."

Written Off: "The Journals Will Explain Everything." 61 min. Molly Herman, dist. by Video Project, www.videoproject.com. 2017. DVD $89; acad. libs. $350 (DVD/DSL). Public performance; closed-captioned. SCI/HEALTH
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The opioid crisis has America firmly in its grip, and this documentary relates the intimate story of young Wisconsinite Matt Edwards's battle with his addiction to prescription pills and heroin, among other drugs. Through photographs, extensive video clips, entries from an extremely detailed journal, and interviews with relatives, friends, and ex-girlfriends, director Herman tells Edwards's story. Like most of the tales of people battling opioid addiction, it's not a pleasant one, and this film is often difficult to watch. Overtly voyeuristic owing to the film's source material, Written Off makes no attempt to connect Edwards's experiences to the larger epidemic. Instead, it powerfully shows one person's downfall caught on tape and revealed via his brutally honest diary excerpts.
VERDICT Another heart-wrenching tale of lives lost to the scourge of drugs.
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