Spun (2002)

Released in 2002 and produced across a handful of independent outfits including Little Magic Films and Silver Nitrate, Spun arrived at a moment when American independent cinema was still riding a wave of films willing to sit uncomfortably close to the uglier corners of ordinary life. The film follows Ross, a college dropout in the grip of a crystal-meth habit, across three chaotic days in which he orbits a cast of fellow travellers: a stripper named Nikki, her boyfriend, and the local manufacturer known only as The Cook. It is the kind of premise that could easily tip into exploitation, but the production approaches its subject with a particular visual language designed to put you inside the fog rather than observe it from a safe distance. The screenplay, written by Will De Los Santos and Creighton Vero, draws on real experiences within the meth subculture, which gives the whole thing a grubby, lived-in texture that is hard to fake.

Behind the camera is Swedish director Jonas Åkerlund, who had built his reputation directing music videos before making the jump to features. That background is all over Spun: the editing is ferocious, the visual palette restless and deliberately disorienting. It is a style that divides opinion, though it is hard to argue it is wrong for the material. The film sits in an interesting bracket of early-2000s American cinema that was willing to be genuinely abrasive, alongside contemporaries that were equally polarising in their approach. If you want a sense of how varied that moment was, my reviews of Phone Booth and Cigarette touch on some of the same period's knack for tight, pressure-cooker storytelling.

The cast assembled here is, on paper, a fascinating mix of performers at very different points in their careers. Jason Schwartzman leads as Ross, playing dishevelled and chemically hollowed-out in a way that is a fair distance from the dry, slightly arch work he was known for at the time. Mickey Rourke appears as The Cook, a role that suited the weathered, lived-in quality he brought to so many parts of this era. Brittany Murphy plays Nikki, and her particular gift for characters who are simultaneously funny and quietly heartbreaking is very much in evidence. John Leguizamo and Patrick Fugit fill out an ensemble that is, collectively, doing a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of making these damaged, often unlikeable people worth spending time with. Crime films that lean on character rather than plot mechanics stand or fall on exactly this kind of casting, something worth considering when you look at how differently a film like The Raid 2 or even the classical framework of Little Caesar approach the same genre territory.

Such an underrated classic. Spun is one heck of a ride. The way it's filmed (with really quick edits and transitions) really puts you in the mind of the addicts in the movie. I believe at one time it held a record for the number of edits. Setting and premise aside (a drug addled few days from the perspective of our main character Ross) there is beauty in every other element of the film. The soundtrack is by the Djali Zwan which is an acoustic band made by the lead singer of the Smashing Pumpkins and it matches the emotion of the movie perfectly. The star studded cast all fit together perfectly. Brittany Murphy and Mickey Rourke in particular play striking characters. There's a deep sadness underlying this entire film. A depravity, with gravity. Truly one of the underrated classics of the 2000s

Brittany Murphy's performance in particular stays with me. There is something genuinely painful about watching her work here, knowing what came later, but even setting that aside the character has a weight to her that the film earns rather than imposes. For me, Spun is one of those films that rewards a second watch once you have adjusted to its rhythm, because the style that might feel like showing off on first viewing starts to feel genuinely purposeful. It is not a comfortable film and it was never meant to be. Sometimes that is precisely the point.

Rating: ★★★★  | Year: 2002  | Watched: 2025-04-13

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Trailer

▶ Watch the official trailer for Spun (2002) on YouTube

Where to watch

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Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi

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