Midnight awakens

Hollywood has a history of making addiction films, from the classic morality tale "The Lost Weekend" to "Arthur." But recently, a new breed of independent films about addiction has appeared, taking a darkly comic approach to the subject. "Permanent Midnight" fits in better with "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Trainspotting" than it does Hollywood drug and alcohol films.

REVIEW
	Permanent Midnight 4 Stars At Briarwood and Showcase

Ben Stiller, who has been busy this year in supporting roles ("Zero Effect," "There's Something About Mary" and "Your Friends and Neighbors"), takes his first starring role and first dramatic role in "Permanent Midnight." Like Jim Carrey did in "The Truman Show," comedian Stiller excels in his dramatic role as the heroin addicted Jerry Stahl. The part's difficulty comes from the fact that Jerry Stahl is a real person (who appears in a cameo). "Permanent Midnight" comes from his memoir of the same name. Stiller is excellent as Stahl, giving a harrowing, honest performance, deftly handling not only the comedy, but also achieving great dramatic effect.

Though film is a heavy fictionalization of Stahl's book, it manages to keep the comic tone and the dark mood of the book. In the '80s, Stahl was a well-paid TV writer, but had very little self-respect due to his soulless profession. Coupled with a preexisting drug habit, this lead him to a more intense use of narcotics - a mix of heroin, crack and a plethora of other drugs - which cost him a job, a wife and a luxurious lifestyle.

Like all adaptations, "Permanent Midnight" is an abbreviated version of the book. Missing from the film is Stahl's multiple stays in rehab, his crack/cocaine problem and his stint in the porno industry. Even though the film is a simplification, that in no way saps the story's power.

The film version of "Permanent Midnight" actually begins with Stahl a day away from completing rehab. He recounts his story to a recovered addict, Kitty (Maria Bello), who picks him up at the fast food job his rehab counselor has forced him to get. After sex - which Stahl can barely perform sober - Kitty asks Stahl how he hit rock bottom.

The film flashes back over Stahl's life, as he brings Kitty up to speed. Stahl is a writer who moves to LA ("the only town with a 24-hour a day self-help station") and gets married to Sandra (Elizabeth Hurley in a wonderful performance), a TV executive in need of a green card. In exchange, she gets him a job writing for "Mr. Chompers," which is a stand-in for "ALF" (a show Stahl wrote for). The job pays $5,000 a week, which helps support Stahl's habit, which grows to $6,000 a week.

Stahl shoots heroin to enable his writing, to get him through married life, to cope with his job, to attend the birth of his daughter and to just get by - heroin is his fuel. Ultimately, Stahl falls from his heroin heaven, landing in junkie hell. He can no longer write without excessive amounts of heroin, he loses his job and eventually loses his wife and daughter. In a powerful, gut-wrenching scene, Stahl shoots heroin into his jugular vein while his baby daughter looks on from the passenger seat.

Despite the gloom of heroin addiction, like "Leaving Las Vegas" and "Trainspotting," "Permanent Midnight" manages to find the humor in Stahl's descent. Whether Stahl is hallucinating that Chompers is trying to steal his heroin, hopped-up on crack while meeting his future agent (Janeane Garofalo) or sober and recounting his battle with heroin to Maury Povitch, Stiller gives a dark, yet comical, performance.

"Permanent Midnight" is the first directorial effort of screenwriter Dave Veloz - who's largely responsible for "Natural Born Killers'" excellent script. "Permanent Midnight" loses its thunder in the last five minutes by trying to candy coat the story. Still it's well written, edited and shot.

Veloz gives the film a hallucinatory feeling, while conveying with tightly framed shoots how trapped Stahl is. Showing Stiller pressed into the corner of a bathroom with a spike in his arm or moving through a crowed nightclub with his baby, in a vain attempt to find his dealer, Veloz gives the audience the sense that Stahl has created a hellish prison for himself.

"Permanent Midnight" is a graphic account of drug addiction, which probably won't fly with audiences looking for something wholesome and uplifting. Instead the film glimpses the dark side of life, showing that sometimes a person must plummet into hell to discover his humanity.

09-23-98