All These Lonely People
A girl dead in an armchair, a syringe hanging limply from her arm, an arm marked with syringe scars, her body devoid of oxygen as her lips and skin have gone blue. A solitary teen stands outside of a church, a service going on inside as a tear streams down his face over floral tribute to Tess. He goes home with a friend who as they sit on the couch does some heroin. A girl in her room reading whilst smoking her mum calls up to her but the girl won't leave the room staring at her door as her mum goes out. As the sun is setting on a damp country road a young teen races through the narrow lanes in his car, exhaust rumbling with no hope of avoiding a crash if something was coming the other way.
I could go on because "Better Things" rather than telling us a story shows us a slice of life for those in a rural community and before I continue it is not just young people but we have old people as well in this movie. The frightening thing is that "Better Things" is so real, that for some, even many people life has become like this from the young man who can't escape from a world of drugs because there is nothing else to an old lady laying a wake at night alone because her other half is in hospital, all lonely in their existence. And that young girl who has become a recluse, living life in her room because the way the outside world treats her is too much for her to handle, it is heart breaking.
But this isn't some here is the solution movie, this isn't a movie which glamorizes being a teen, it doesn't celebrate those who do drugs or go hurtling through the back roads in their car. What it does is show that there is a forgotten population out there who in some cases through no fault of their own have got themselves in a way of life and there is no escape from it and in their case the effect of loneliness. About the only thing the movie hints at is that the only hope is that maybe one day you will find love.
What this all boils down to is that "Better Things" is definitely not for everyone as from the style through to scenes of drug taking and the bleak reality on show it is uncomfortable viewing even if you are accustomed to watching these sorts of bleak movies. But it is eye opening and maybe those who don't realise how life is for some people will get a look at a lonely way of life.
