Drugs occupy a significant part of the life of society (far from the best) and many writers and directors use this theme in their films. The previous rating of films aroused great response among readers. Films, which users suggested in the comments, were enough for one more list:
32 The Preppie Connection, 2015
A student at a private school uses his connections to establish a drug trafficking network there.
Directed by Joseph Castelo
Cast: Thomas Mann, Lucy Fry, Logan Huffman
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31 Kid Cannabis, 2014
An eighteen year old high school drop out and his twenty-seven year old friend start trafficking marijuana across the border of Canada in order to make money and their lives are changed forever.
Directed by John Stockwell
Cast: Jonathan Daniel Brown, Kenny Wormald, Aaron Yoo
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30 I (Я), 2009
The young man is going to slice from the army in the district mental hospital. But the game with the system is delayed – after going through compulsory treatment, the hero with a white ticket on his hands is selected for freedom. Through three stages of life – his childhood, adolescence and adolescence – the life of an entire lost generation of the end of the Soviet era is on the screen.
Directed by Igor Voloshin
Cast: Artur Smolyaninov, Andrei Habarov, Oksana Akinshina
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29 Black`s Game (Svartur á leik), 2012
Inspired by actual events. On the eve of the millennium, Stebbi, a student is arrested in a drunken brawl and reacquaints himself with a childhood friend, Toti, to help him find representation at his upcoming court date. In order to pay his debt he agrees to join Toti’s crew. As he is drawn into the world of Iceland’s drug trade he becomes the drug lord’s right hand pusher, rolling in cash, drugs and girls. But that all changes as the demands of his occupation start to interfere with the inner drug trading circle’s protocol and complications arise when he breaks those rules.
Directed by Óskar Thór Axelsson
Cast: Thor Kristjansson, Jóhannes Haukur Jóhannesson, Damon Younger
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28 Artificial Paradises (Paraísos Artificiais), 2012
Two girlfriends visit a big Brazilian beach festival and decide to just let go. They enjoy the music, booze, drugs and on one steamy afternoon even each other. They also meet a young man and things can’t be better. Can this paradise last?
Directed by Marcos Prado
Cast: Nathalia Dill, Luca Bianchi, Lívia de Bueno
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27 Pineapple Express, 2008
Lazy court-process clerk and stoner Dale Denton has only one reason to visit his equally lazy dealer Saul Silver: to purchase weed, specifically, a rare new strain called Pineapple Express. But when Dale becomes the only witness to a murder by a crooked cop and the city’s most dangerous drug lord, he panics and dumps his roach of Pineapple Express at the scene. Dale now has another reason to visit Saul: to find out if the weed is so rare that it can be traced back to him-and it is. As Dale and Saul run for their lives, they quickly discover that they’re not suffering from weed-fueled paranoia: incredibly, the bad guys really are hot on their trail and trying to figure out the fastest way to kill them both. All aboard the Pineapple Express.
Directed by David Gordon Green
Cast: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Danny McBride
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26 Lucy, 2014
A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.
Directed by Luc Besson
Cast: Scarlett Johansson, Morgan Freeman, Choi Min-sik
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25 The Acid House, 1998
Three twisted tales from the seamy side of Scotland and the mind of Irvine Welsh. The Granton Star Cause: in the same day a young Leith lad is dumped by his football team, his girlfriend and his parents, arrested and beaten up by the police and turned into a fly by God, whom he meets in a pub. The Soft Touch: a man is too soft to do anything when his wife moves in with the thug upstairs. The Acid House: while tripping on acid, Coco Bryce is struck by lightning, causing him to switch bodies with a newborn baby.
Directed by Paul McGuigan
Cast: Stephen McCole, Maurice Roëves, Garry Sweeney
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24 The Angel (Engelen), 2009
As the film opens, a doped-up Lea makes an extremely bad impression on her baby daughter’s foster parents; later, flashbacks reveal her disturbing youth and young adulthood. From the wrong side of the tracks, Lea grows up in a small house on the edge of the forest. When her father dies, her fragile mother Madelene takes up with the jealous alcoholic Ole. Unable to prevent Madelene from being beaten, Lea winds up as a substance abuser.
Directed by Margreth Olin
Cast: Maria Bonnevie, Lena Endre, Börje Ahlstedt
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23 To Write Love on Her Arms, 2012
The story follows 19-year-old Renee (Kat Dennings) who has always loved fairy tales: the idea of a princess, a hero and a happily ever after. But Renee’s life is that of a darker tale: she’s a young woman battling addiction, depression and self-injury. In a creative blend of artistic fantasy balanced with harsh reality, the movie follows Renee on her courageous journey towards recovery.
Directed by Nathan Frankowski
Cast: Kat Dennings, Chad Michael Murray, Rupert Friend
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22 Cicuta (Цикута), 2003
Cicuta is a poison that is fixed in the annals of world history as a substance that at one time rejected the great Socrates and deprived our civilization of his later and, perhaps, more remarkable philosophical treatises. In the movie a lot of swearing obscenities, moving real drugs, sniffing real cocaine – in general, everything is honest.
Directed by Aleksandr Shapiro
Cast: Volodymyr Horiansky, Artem Aleksin, Aleksandr Prishepa
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21 London, 2005
London is a drug laden adventure that centers on a party in a New York loft where a young man is trying to win back his ex-girlfriend.
Directed by Hunter Richards
Cast: Chris Evans, Jessica Biel, Joy Bryant
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20 Morphine (Морфий), 2008
The year is 1917. We are in the Russian countryside. It is the middle of freezing winter. A pale young, newly educated doctor arrives. Having to deal with one medical challenge after another he soon becomes the center of everyone’s attention. To soothe the impressions of human suffering he turns to morphine.
Directed by Aleksei Balabanov
Cast: Leonid Bichevin, Ingeborga Dapkūnaitė, Svetlana Pismichenko, Andrei Panin
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19 Dead Ringers, 1988
The Mantle brothers are both doctors – both gynecologists – and identical twins. Mentally however, one of them is more confident than the other, and always manages to seduce the women he meets. When he’s tired of his current partner, she is passed on to the other brother – without her knowing. Everything runs smoothly, until an actress visits their clinic, and the shy brother is the first to fall in love. Will they be able to ‘share’ her?
Directed by David Cronenberg
Cast: Jeremy Irons, Geneviève Bujold, Heidi von Palleske
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18 Naked Lunch, 1991
After developing an addiction to the substance he uses to kill bugs, an exterminator accidentally kills his wife, and becomes involved in a secret government plot being orchestrated by giant bugs in a port town in North Africa.
Directed by David Cronenberg
Cast: Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Ian Holm
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17 Go, 1999
Told from three perspectives, a story of a bunch of young Californians trying to get some cash, do and deal some drugs, score money and sex in Las Vegas, and generally experience the rush of life.
Directed by Doug Liman
Cast: Sarah Polley, Timothy Olyphant, William Fichtner, Katie Holmes
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16 Swallows Have Arrived (Ласточки прилетели), 2006
The hero of the film leads a double life. In the afternoon he is Constantine, a teacher of literature who lectures to students at the university about decadence, and in the evening – drug addict Peak, an inhabitant of the city dens, with artistic virtuosity, who takes a dose from mother thieves and drug addicts. This contrast, the duplicity of the hero gives all the action, obvious tension, exciting the viewer from the first minutes and not letting go until the final frames.
Directed by Aslan Galazov
Cast: Irlan Hugaev, Artur Hatagov, Vacheslav Guriev
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15 Layer Cake, 2004
A successful cocaine dealer, who has earned a respected place among England’s Mafia elite, plans an early retirement from the business. However, big boss Jimmy Price hands down a tough assignment: find Charlotte Ryder, the missing rich princess daughter of Jimmy’s old pal Edward, a powerful construction business player and gossip papers socialite.
Directed by Matthew Vaughn
Cast: Daniel Craig, Sienna Miller, Colm Meaney
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14 Odisseya 1989 (Одиссея 1989), 2003
The ordinary rural boy goes to the big city, dreaming to be taught and become the Person – Astronaut or at the worst, agronomist. But already on the first approaches to the city of Den faces reality which turns out at all not such as it was represented to it. Strange city life, drugs, mysterious personalities – tighten Dan during a prompt whirlpool. And he can’t resist it.
Directed by Ilya Hotinenko
Cast: Pyotr Buslow, Andrei Shennikov, Yana Shivkova
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13 Engel & Joe, 2001
The runaway teenager Joe leaves her dysfunctional mother after being beat by her lover Harry. She meets Engel and his punk friends on the streets and the boy lodges her in the abandoned building where he lives. Engel tells her that he dreams on living in the mountains in a community of his own, raising animals and planting his own food, and they fall in love for each other. When Joe gets pregnant, Engel assumes the baby, but without a profession, the young couple faces serious financial difficulties and problems. When Engel gets addicted on drugs, he drags Joe to a low life including prostitution. But there is light in the mountain.
Directed by Vanessa Jopp
Cast: Robert Stadlober, Jana Pallaske, Lena Sabine Berg
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12 The Panic in Needle Park, 1971
This movie is a stark portrayal of life among a group of heroin addicts who hang out in “Needle Park” in New York City. Played against this setting is a low-key love story between Bobby, a young addict and small-time hustler, and Helen, a homeless girl who finds in her relationship with Bobby the stability she craves. She becomes addicted too, and life goes downhill for them both as their addiction deepens, eventually leading to a series of betrayals. But, in spite of it all, the relationship between Bobby and Helen endures.
Directed by Jerry Schatzberg
Cast: Al Pacino, Kitty Winn, Alan Vint
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11 A Scanner Darkly, 2006
In a totalitarian society in a near future, the undercover detective Bob Arctor is working with a small time group of drug users trying to reach the big distributors of a brain-damaging drug called Substance D. His assignment is promoted by the recovery center New Path Corporation, and when Bob begins to lose his own identity and have schizophrenic behavior, he is submitted to tests to check his mental conditions.
Directed by Richard Linklater
Cast: Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr., Winona Ryder
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10 Human Traffic, 1999
The Cardiff club scene in the 90’s: five best friends deal with their relationships and their personal demons during a weekend. Jip calls himself a sexual paranoid, afraid he’s impotent. Lulu, Jip’s mate, doesn’t find much to fancy in men. Nina hates her job at a fast food joint, and her man, Koop, who dreams of being a great hip-hop d.j., is prone to fits of un-provoked jealousy. The fifth is Moff, whose family is down on his behavior. Starting Friday afternoon, with preparations for clubbing, we follow the five from Ecstacy-induced fun through a booze-laden come-down early Saturday morning followed by the weekend’s aftermath. It’s breakthrough time for at least three of them.
Directed by Justin Kerrigan
Cast: John Simm, Lorraine Pilkington, Shaun Parkes
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9 Sid and Nancy, 1986
Morbid biographical story of Sid Vicious, bassist with British punk group the Sex Pistols, and his girlfriend Nancy Spungen. When the Sex Pistols break up after their fateful US tour, Vicious attempts a solo career while in the grip of heroin addiction. One morning, Nancy is found stabbed to death and Sid is arrested for her murder.
Directed by Alex Cox
Cast: Gary Oldman, Chloe Webb, David Hayman
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8 Bullet, 1996
Butch “Bullet” Stein, a Jewish junkie from the mean streets of Brooklyn, is paroled after eight years in prison. Butch rips off a runner for local drug dealer, Tank, and is soon right back into his old habit of snorting coke and shooting up heroin with his best friend Lester. Enraged by Butch’s affront and already determined to get revenge on him for a past wrong, Tank sets about getting even with his old enemy by hiring a hulking brute, Gates, to beat Butch. When the confrontation occurs, however, Gates breaks his hand on the battle-hardened Butch. Besides Lester, the only people in Butch’s corner are his two brothers, the mentally-unhinged Vietnam War veteran Louis and aspiring artist Ruby, neither of whom can be counted on to help him in the inevitable showdown.
Directed by Julien Temple
Cast: Mickey Rourke, Tupac Shakur, Frank Senger
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7 The Needle (Игла), 1988
Moro returns to Alma Ata to collect money owed to him. While waiting out an unexpected delay, he visits his former girlfriend Dina, and discovers she has become a morphine addict. He decides to help her kick the habit and to fight the local drug maphia responsible for her condition. But Moro finds a deadly opponent in “the doctor,” the maphia kingpin who is exploiting Dina.
Directed by Rashid Nugmanov
Cast: Viktor Tsoi, Marina Smirnova, Pyotr Mamonov
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6 Filth, 2013
A corrupt, junkie cop with bipolar disorder attempts to manipulate his way through a promotion in order to win back his wife and daughter while also fighting his own inner demons.
Directed by Jon S. Baird
Cast: James McAvoy, Jamie Bell, Eddie Marsan
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5 Candy, 2005
This story is a narration from an Australian man who falls in love with two kinds of Candy: a woman of the same name and heroin. The narrator changes from a smart-aleck to someone trying to find a vein to inject, while Candy changes from an actress, call girl, streetwalker, and then a madwoman. Starting in Sydney, the two eventually end up in Melbourne to go clean, but they fail. This leads them to turn to finding money and heroin, while other posessions and attachments become unimportant.
Directed by Neil Armfield
Cast: Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush
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4 Limitless, 2011
Eddie Morra is a struggling author with writer’s block. His girlfriend Lindy, frustrated with his lack of progress, breaks up with him. Eddie encounters Vernon, the brother of his ex-wife Melissa, who gives Eddie a sample of a new nootropic called NZT-48. Returning to his apartment, Eddie takes the drug and discovers he now has perfect recall and the ability to cross-correlate information quickly. He cleans his apartment obsessively in a few hours and begins writing a new book.
Directed by Neil Burger
Cast: Bradley Cooper, Robert De Niro, Abbie Cornish
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3 The Wolf of Wall Street, 2013
Jordan Belfort is a Long Island penny stockbroker who served 22 months in prison for defrauding investors in a massive 1990s securities scam that involved widespread corruption on Wall Street and in the corporate banking world, including shoe designer Steve Madden.
Directed by Martin Scorsese
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, Margot Robbie
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2 Gia, 1998
When Gia Carangi first arrives in New York City, she’s a beautiful drop-out from Philadelphia brashly bursting through the closed doors of top modeling agent Wilhelmina Cooper. Gia’s electrifying personality and potent sexuality soon find their way onto the covers of America’s top-selling magazines. But being loved by the world isn’t the same as being love by one – an unfulfilled desire that can take Gia dangerous places. And for a beautiful woman, one slip could lead to an untimely and terrifying downfall.
Directed by Michael Cristofer
Cast: Angelina Jolie, Elizabeth Mitchell, Mercedes Ruehl
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1 Christiane F. (Christiane F. – Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo), 1981
A bored, aimless 14-year-old girl falls into the drug scene in Berlin in the 1970s after attending ‘The Sound’, a modern new disco. In search of acceptance and freedom, she falls in with a teenage boy who is hooked on heroin and eventually develops an addiction of her own.
Directed by Uli Edel
Cast: Natja Brunckhorst, Thomas Haustein, Eberhard Auriga
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