DOWN TO THE BONE
Year: 2004
USA: Laemmle / Zeller Films
Cast: Vera Farmiga, Hugh Dillon, Clint Jordan, Caridad "La Bruja" De La Luz, Jasper Moon Daniels, Taylor Foxhall, Giles Penderghast, Terry McKenna, Richard Lieske, Hector Vazquez, Vernon Wooten, Joel Saeks, Lori Berryman, Walt Bolde, Edward Crawford, Gia Mitchell, Anthony Ricci, Liam Underhill, Kira Daniels, Charles Boughton, Ernst Longyear, Robert Henderson, Jackie Lieske, Alan Samulski, Matt Goldpaugh, Nancy Fallon, Kenneth Thompson, Corinne Stralka, Randi Conti, Patrick Dowling, George Koch, Jadira, Vinny Ritchie, Tom Brangle, Gary Thompson, Jeremiah Flaherty, Melissa Ortquist, Karen Keefe, Tillie Olinsky, Shelley Bolding
Director: Debra Granik
Country: USA
USA: 105 mins
USA Release Date: 25 November 2005 (Limited Release - New York and Los Angeles)
Synopsis
Last year's Sundance Film Festival honored DOWN TO THE BONE with two high profile, prestigious and extremely competitive awards: Best Director and A Special Jury Prize for acting. A stellar entry in the Dramatic Competition, writer/director Debra Granik, in her feature film debut, and actress Vera Farmiga became the talk of the Festival and the indie film community.
In DOWN TO THE BONE, Irene (Vera Farmiga) is a working class mother living in upstate New York. She struggles to keep her marriage together and raise two sons while keeping her cocaine addiction a secret. After a series of nearly fatal mishaps, and finally hoping to make a change in her life, she decides to check herself into a rehab center. She knows kicking the habit would be tough, but the experience proves even more difficult than she could have anticipated. There, she meets and falls in love with a fellow reformed addict (Hugh Dillon). When one of them falls into a relapse with the addiction, their commitment to staying clean - and to each other - shatters. This beautifully wrought film accurately and authentically explores the wrenching road of recovery without ever resorting to histrionics.
DOWN TO THE BONE is based upon Debra Granik's 1997 short film, SNAKE FEED, which won the Sundance Film Festival's Short Filmmaking Award in 1998.