{"id":12249,"date":"2019-06-04T09:25:17","date_gmt":"2019-06-04T16:25:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/?p=12249"},"modified":"2019-08-02T20:33:06","modified_gmt":"2019-08-03T03:33:06","slug":"the-addiction-a-look-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/","title":{"rendered":"The Addiction \u2014 A Look Back"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"'TheDirected by<\/strong>:\u00a0Abel Ferrara<\/a><\/p>\n

Writing Credits<\/strong>:\u00a0Nicholas St. John<\/a><\/p>\n

Cinematography by<\/strong>: Ken Kelsch<\/a><\/p>\n

Music by<\/strong>: Joe Delia<\/a><\/p>\n

Cast<\/strong>:\u00a0Lili Taylor<\/a>, Christopher Walken<\/a>, Annabella Sciorra<\/a>, Edie Falco, <\/a>\u00a0Michael Imperioli<\/a><\/p>\n

Abel Ferrara\u2019s The Addiction \u2013 A Look Back<\/h2>\n

By Walt Mundkowsky<\/em><\/p>\n

The Addiction<\/i><\/b> (1995) is the most stringent product of director Abel Ferrara\u2019s current manner \u2014 a highly original morality play about guilt and redemption.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Kathleen Conklin is a Ph.D. candidate at NYU\u2019s school of philosophy. One night she is accosted by a sleek female vampire and hurled down a flight of stairs. \u201cLook at me and tell me to go away,\u201d her attacker taunts. \u201cDon\u2019t ask \u2026 tell me.\u201d When her assault is completed, she calls Kathleen her collaborator. After periods of shocking illness, Kathleen takes to the vampire trade, at first extracting her victims\u2019 blood with a syringe. (To her the blood is insignificant \u2014 \u201cIt\u2019s the violence of my will against theirs.\u201d) As her hunger grows, no one she meets is safe. Eventually she encounters Peina, a veteran vampire who has his habit under control. His grand contempt and self-amused pronouncements are a crucial stop along Kathleen\u2019s path to enlightenment. \u201cPlease help me,\u201d she begs. \u201cI\u2019m not that person, believe me,\u201d he purrs, turning her out.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Ferrara and his customary screenwriter Nicholas St. John haven\u2019t much interest in the vampire myth \u2014 there\u2019s plenty of blood, but nary a fang in sight. Vampirism stands in for the addiction to absolutes, and to disaster itself. Once she has been infected, Kathleen taps an order of experience that mocks both the philosophers she studies and her victims. In the library (no longer the repository of civilized values) she thinks, \u201cThis is a graveyard \u2014 rows of crumbling tombstones, vicious libelous epitaphs.\u201d Where her bravado cracks, one glimpses a soul in mourning. She covers the mirrors in her flat because (a nice twist of the knife) her crushing guilt makes her own image unbearable. The obligatory vampire orgy leaves her not triumphant but ready for death (or rebirth), sickened by so much blood.<\/p>\n

\"Lili<\/p>\n

Of course, it wouldn\u2019t be a Ferrara film without a few indecent-to-objectionable jabs \u2014 here, documentary shots of rows of corpses from My Lai, the Nazi death camps and the former Yugoslavia. Taste aside, this overkill violates the scale of the narrative, and contributes virtually nothing. Even so, Ferrara\u2019s tenth feature is his best-directed yet. His typically gritty thrust is everywhere apparent; so is a new desire for carefully shaded dynamics. Keen touches abound: the surprising use of rap music, or the way Peina and Kathleen are prevented from appearing in the same shot as he strips her of her defenses. The black-and-white cinematography of Ken Kelsch (another longtime Ferrara team member) works the boundary between wakefulness and dream, stunningly framed and lit but never fussed over.<\/p>\n

\"Lili<\/p>\n

Lili Taylor has been giving excitingly inventive performances for years, but the part of Kathleen is a feast for her and her admirers. She has essayed spiritual rapture before, in Household Saints<\/em><\/strong> (1993). But one also gets gleaming sardonic wit, tossed-off erudition, power supported by tissue-thin fragility, and physical suffering so vivid as to leave one gasping.<\/p>\n

\"Christopher<\/p>\n

If Christopher Walken is a little too perfect for Peina, he doesn\u2019t coast on obvious attributes; his urgency implies that the character has been waiting a lifetime to impart what he knows. Edie Falco is flinty and touchingly steadfast as Kathleen\u2019s best friend. And Annabella Sciorra cuts a stylish swath as the original assailant. Lean and chillingly mean, it\u2019s hard to credit this persona to the actress first seen in True Love<\/em><\/strong> (1989).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Addiction (1995) is the most stringent product of director Abel Ferrara\u2019s current manner \u2014 a highly original morality play about guilt and redemption.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":45,"featured_media":12247,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[117],"tags":[2541,2544,2539,2543,2540,508,2538,2542],"class_list":["post-12249","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-time-capsule-cinema","tag-abel-ferrara","tag-annabella-sciorra","tag-christopher-walken","tag-edie-falco","tag-lili-taylor","tag-movie-review","tag-the-addiction","tag-vampire"],"yoast_head":"\nThe Addiction \u2014 A Look Back - Traveling Archive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The Addiction (1995) is the most stringent product of director Abel Ferrara\u2019s current manner \u2014 a highly original morality play about guilt and redemption.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The Addiction \u2014 A Look Back - Traveling Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Addiction (1995) is the most stringent product of director Abel Ferrara\u2019s current manner \u2014 a highly original morality play about guilt and redemption.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Traveling Archive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-06-04T16:25:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-08-03T03:33:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/The-Addiction-Scene-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"850\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"457\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Walt Mundkowsky\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Walt Mundkowsky\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Walt Mundkowsky\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#\/schema\/person\/6752174019efcc705c57da71f3e491e6\"},\"headline\":\"The Addiction \u2014 A Look Back\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-04T16:25:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-03T03:33:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/\"},\"wordCount\":608,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/The-Addiction-Scene-1.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Abel Ferrara\",\"Annabella Sciorra\",\"Christopher Walken\",\"Edie Falco\",\"Lili Taylor\",\"movie review\",\"The Addiction\",\"vampire\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Time Capsule Cinema\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/\",\"name\":\"The Addiction \u2014 A Look Back - Traveling Archive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/The-Addiction-Scene-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-06-04T16:25:17+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-08-03T03:33:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#\/schema\/person\/6752174019efcc705c57da71f3e491e6\"},\"description\":\"The Addiction (1995) is the most stringent product of director Abel Ferrara\u2019s current manner \u2014 a highly original morality play about guilt and redemption.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/The-Addiction-Scene-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/The-Addiction-Scene-1.jpg\",\"width\":850,\"height\":457,\"caption\":\"a scene from the movie 'The Addiction'\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The Addiction \u2014 A Look Back\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/\",\"name\":\"Traveling Archive\",\"description\":\"Traveling Adventures\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#\/schema\/person\/6752174019efcc705c57da71f3e491e6\",\"name\":\"Walt Mundkowsky\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70850bf40e77137ec2f647887a8a3736ba9375c5be2b86fe8ef5bc8761949d57?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70850bf40e77137ec2f647887a8a3736ba9375c5be2b86fe8ef5bc8761949d57?s=96&d=retro&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Walt Mundkowsky\"},\"description\":\"Walt Mundkowsky was born 1944 in San Antonio, TX. In his teens he had a dachshund named for German composer Hugo Wolf. Extensive writings on film (1968-72 freelance, a \u201cCinema Obscura\u201d column in Home Theater, 1995-2001). He favors the mine-shaft approach \u2014 in-depth exploration of tiny, unrelated areas. Now a resident of Koreatown in L.A., he has lived in basements in Denver, London and Stockholm, and may very well do so again.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/author\/walt\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The Addiction \u2014 A Look Back - Traveling Archive","description":"The Addiction (1995) is the most stringent product of director Abel Ferrara\u2019s current manner \u2014 a highly original morality play about guilt and redemption.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The Addiction \u2014 A Look Back - Traveling Archive","og_description":"The Addiction (1995) is the most stringent product of director Abel Ferrara\u2019s current manner \u2014 a highly original morality play about guilt and redemption.","og_url":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/","og_site_name":"Traveling Archive","article_published_time":"2019-06-04T16:25:17+00:00","article_modified_time":"2019-08-03T03:33:06+00:00","og_image":[{"width":850,"height":457,"url":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/The-Addiction-Scene-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Walt Mundkowsky","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Walt Mundkowsky","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/"},"author":{"name":"Walt Mundkowsky","@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#\/schema\/person\/6752174019efcc705c57da71f3e491e6"},"headline":"The Addiction \u2014 A Look Back","datePublished":"2019-06-04T16:25:17+00:00","dateModified":"2019-08-03T03:33:06+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/"},"wordCount":608,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/The-Addiction-Scene-1.jpg","keywords":["Abel Ferrara","Annabella Sciorra","Christopher Walken","Edie Falco","Lili Taylor","movie review","The Addiction","vampire"],"articleSection":["Time Capsule Cinema"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/","url":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/","name":"The Addiction \u2014 A Look Back - Traveling Archive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/The-Addiction-Scene-1.jpg","datePublished":"2019-06-04T16:25:17+00:00","dateModified":"2019-08-03T03:33:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#\/schema\/person\/6752174019efcc705c57da71f3e491e6"},"description":"The Addiction (1995) is the most stringent product of director Abel Ferrara\u2019s current manner \u2014 a highly original morality play about guilt and redemption.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/The-Addiction-Scene-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/The-Addiction-Scene-1.jpg","width":850,"height":457,"caption":"a scene from the movie 'The Addiction'"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/the-addiction-a-look-back\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The Addiction \u2014 A Look Back"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#website","url":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/","name":"Traveling Archive","description":"Traveling Adventures","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#\/schema\/person\/6752174019efcc705c57da71f3e491e6","name":"Walt Mundkowsky","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70850bf40e77137ec2f647887a8a3736ba9375c5be2b86fe8ef5bc8761949d57?s=96&d=retro&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/70850bf40e77137ec2f647887a8a3736ba9375c5be2b86fe8ef5bc8761949d57?s=96&d=retro&r=g","caption":"Walt Mundkowsky"},"description":"Walt Mundkowsky was born 1944 in San Antonio, TX. In his teens he had a dachshund named for German composer Hugo Wolf. Extensive writings on film (1968-72 freelance, a \u201cCinema Obscura\u201d column in Home Theater, 1995-2001). He favors the mine-shaft approach \u2014 in-depth exploration of tiny, unrelated areas. Now a resident of Koreatown in L.A., he has lived in basements in Denver, London and Stockholm, and may very well do so again.","url":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/author\/walt\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12249","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/45"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12249"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12249\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12253,"href":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12249\/revisions\/12253"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12249"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12249"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/travelingboy.com\/travel\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12249"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}