Please help me identify a movie using only this vaguely remembered scene
December 20, 2009 9:32 PM Subscribe
There is a movie I saw very distractedly around 1996-2000, featuring a scene I keep thinking about. I don't remember much beyond that one scene but I do recall the haunting mood of the film. I'd like to watch it again sometime, but can't seem to identify it.
It is a tale taking place in the nocturnal underworld of some city featuring a young boy (a teenager, I think -- coming of age aspects to the main plot?) and an older but still relatively young man, who has a dark, somewhat devilish vibe to him and is a sort of guide/mentor to the boy as they navigate the city. There is a definite David Lynch like quality to this movie, and the story unfolds as if in a dream.
In the scene I remember the man takes the boy to some woman he knows; she appears to be one of the man's shadier and more bizarre contacts in the city. She is a psychic or clairvoyant or voodoo type or some other sort of occultist. The boy's introduction to the woman is arguably accompanied by a suggestion of sexual tension. The woman gives drugs to the boy, in the form of powder to be snorted. I think the boy takes the drug first, then asks what it was, seeming to believe it was cocaine. It is then revealed that the white powder was in fact heroin, at which the boy becomes flustered and afraid. As the drug kicks in, however, he has some sort of inner vision or psychic experience which is somehow important to the plot.
That's about all I remember, written down as carefully as I could. Some of it could be inaccurate or misleading. I realize that the chances of identifying this movie going on so little are next to nil. Nevertheless, if any of the above rings a bell for you, I would greatly appreciate any guesses. I believe I would recognize it readily if I was looking at it on IMDB.
Thanks a lot! :)
It is a tale taking place in the nocturnal underworld of some city featuring a young boy (a teenager, I think -- coming of age aspects to the main plot?) and an older but still relatively young man, who has a dark, somewhat devilish vibe to him and is a sort of guide/mentor to the boy as they navigate the city. There is a definite David Lynch like quality to this movie, and the story unfolds as if in a dream.
In the scene I remember the man takes the boy to some woman he knows; she appears to be one of the man's shadier and more bizarre contacts in the city. She is a psychic or clairvoyant or voodoo type or some other sort of occultist. The boy's introduction to the woman is arguably accompanied by a suggestion of sexual tension. The woman gives drugs to the boy, in the form of powder to be snorted. I think the boy takes the drug first, then asks what it was, seeming to believe it was cocaine. It is then revealed that the white powder was in fact heroin, at which the boy becomes flustered and afraid. As the drug kicks in, however, he has some sort of inner vision or psychic experience which is somehow important to the plot.
That's about all I remember, written down as carefully as I could. Some of it could be inaccurate or misleading. I realize that the chances of identifying this movie going on so little are next to nil. Nevertheless, if any of the above rings a bell for you, I would greatly appreciate any guesses. I believe I would recognize it readily if I was looking at it on IMDB.
Thanks a lot! :)
The Basketball Diaries?
Or maybe Nowhere (1997) - "Director, Gregg Araki; Cast: James Duval, Rachel True, Nathan Bexton, Chiara Mastroianni, Debi Mazar. "Nowhere" is the final chapter in Gregg Araki's "Teen Apocalypse Trilogy." It follows a day in the life of Dark (James Duval), an 18-year-old living in the psychedelic, drug-addicted, sex crazed world that is life in Los Angeles."
Wasted from 2001? had Summer Phoenix...
Other titles are here: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/drugs.html
posted by Jinx of the 2nd Law at 9:50 PM on December 20, 2009
Or maybe Nowhere (1997) - "Director, Gregg Araki; Cast: James Duval, Rachel True, Nathan Bexton, Chiara Mastroianni, Debi Mazar. "Nowhere" is the final chapter in Gregg Araki's "Teen Apocalypse Trilogy." It follows a day in the life of Dark (James Duval), an 18-year-old living in the psychedelic, drug-addicted, sex crazed world that is life in Los Angeles."
Wasted from 2001? had Summer Phoenix...
Other titles are here: http://www.lib.berkeley.edu/MRC/drugs.html
posted by Jinx of the 2nd Law at 9:50 PM on December 20, 2009
Sounds kinda like Tina Turner as the acid queen in Ken Russell's Tommy.
When Turner's career went on a sudden comeback, music video docs showed this damned clip over and over again. The movie Tommy is classic Ken Russell: messed up with moments of utter brilliance.
posted by ovvl at 10:14 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
When Turner's career went on a sudden comeback, music video docs showed this damned clip over and over again. The movie Tommy is classic Ken Russell: messed up with moments of utter brilliance.
posted by ovvl at 10:14 PM on December 20, 2009 [1 favorite]
It is not City of Lost Children.
posted by hermitosis at 7:46 AM on December 21, 2009
posted by hermitosis at 7:46 AM on December 21, 2009
The lead in City of Lost Children was a girl, not a boy. It's not that.
I'm wondering, though -- do you think that maybe you read a BOOK with this scene, and have somehow mis-remembered it as a movie? Because this sounds kind of like it has elements of CITY OF EMBER in it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:35 AM on December 21, 2009
I'm wondering, though -- do you think that maybe you read a BOOK with this scene, and have somehow mis-remembered it as a movie? Because this sounds kind of like it has elements of CITY OF EMBER in it.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:35 AM on December 21, 2009
Response by poster: Thanks to all who have answered so far. Unfortunately it is not City of Lost Children or Tommy or any of the ones that Jinx of the 2nd Law mentioned (doublechecking this, it will take me a day or so). And I didn't see anything promising in that berkeley.edu link, either (handy page though, thanks!).
I guess the search continues. In the extremely unlikely event that it might help, I have a vague memory that the face of the actor playing the "devilish young man" in my original post is similar to that of Robert Sean Leonard. I don't know that it is RSL, it's even likely that it isn't, but it was somebody who has at least a vague resemblance to him. I'm sure enough of this that I went through all of RSL's films on IMDB once to see if any of the plots looked promising, but nothing did (with the exception of My Best Friend is a Vampire, which I checked and turned out not being the one).
posted by mindwarp at 8:37 AM on December 21, 2009
I guess the search continues. In the extremely unlikely event that it might help, I have a vague memory that the face of the actor playing the "devilish young man" in my original post is similar to that of Robert Sean Leonard. I don't know that it is RSL, it's even likely that it isn't, but it was somebody who has at least a vague resemblance to him. I'm sure enough of this that I went through all of RSL's films on IMDB once to see if any of the plots looked promising, but nothing did (with the exception of My Best Friend is a Vampire, which I checked and turned out not being the one).
posted by mindwarp at 8:37 AM on December 21, 2009
Response by poster: EmpressCallipygos: I am quite sure it was a movie, not a book. I remember things mainly visually and I can definitely see several screenshots from that scene; also, I remember the place where I saw the movie. The story definitely wasn't City of Ember, anyway -- though I haven't read the book, the plot looks way too different going by any of the summaries I found online. No, it's either a movie or a shockingly elaborate fake memory / weird daydream of my own, but I really feel like I can safely exclude the latter. Thanks anyway for your answer though!
posted by mindwarp at 8:44 AM on December 21, 2009
posted by mindwarp at 8:44 AM on December 21, 2009
I used to get Robert Sean Leonard confused with Jeremy Davies. Could it be one of his films?
posted by orme at 11:04 AM on December 21, 2009
posted by orme at 11:04 AM on December 21, 2009
Your description put me in mind of Gaiman's Neverwhere, although that certainly is not the movie you're looking for. But for a similar "underworld of the unusual", it's a pretty cool read! (I haven't seen the movies of it...yet!)
posted by Jinx of the 2nd Law at 10:28 PM on December 21, 2009
posted by Jinx of the 2nd Law at 10:28 PM on December 21, 2009
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posted by amro at 9:50 PM on December 20, 2009