Written by Andreas Babiolakis

During the awards season, I will be covering films that are a part of the discussion that have been out for a while.

Rodrigo Garcia is not exactly the least heavy-handed filmmaker of all time, and Four Good Days is another sign of his incessant need to wring out as much anguish out of his scenes as possible. Without the subtlety required to allow his films to breathe, his pictures can be rather challenging to finish rather than moving as intended. However, with these unpleasantries out of the way, I can also declare that Four Good Days actually wasn’t as overdone or bland as I anticipated. While it squanders some of its more visceral storytelling, it also has some seeds of something better here, with the occasional moments that work well enough to win you over (at least temporarily). This is the adaptation of the true uphill battles of Amanda Wendler covered in Eli Saslow’s article “How’s Amanda?: a story of truth, lies and an American addiction”. The film has replaced Amanda with the character Molly, but her battles with heroin addiction and her fight to stay clean are represented nonetheless. The main goal is to stay sober long enough to be eligible for a shot of an opioid negater that will stop the highs she gets, thus slowly weaning her off of hard drugs. It’s a necessity for her since she has failed to stay sober after many detox attempts.

Molly is played by Mila Kunis, who showcases strength in acting that I don’t think enough people give her credit for. As Molly during a four-day sobriety stretch, Kunis is confrontational but also highly sympathetic, representing the demons of withdrawal and addiction that shroud the aching, vulnerable soul that is jailed inside. Her mother is portrayed by Glenn Close, who is unsurprisingly brilliant, but seeing Kunis keep up with the acting legend is a huge part of Four Good Days’ appeal. This mother character is well crafted in the sense that you get the fuller picture of the uncertainties that one has when a loved one is an addict that will do anything for a score. For a little bit, the film actually seems pretty strong when it focuses on the little things that make up Molly being put on a display during her most harrowing moments because we are seeing an addicted character as a human being and not their condition alone. Outside of some forced melodrama, like Molly’s son repetitively telling her that she “sucks” after losing at a video game only for her to feel like she has failed at life (not very subtle at all), Four Good Days actually seems okay at first. Seeing Molly trying to earn back her children as a potential role model, as well as get help for piecing herself back together, feels like a sincere and impactful watch.

It’s the third act that kind of sours the majority of the experience: the evidence of Molly’s relapse. Because these moments are portrayed very heavily, it kind of makes everything that came before it feel similarly too-much. Had the previous moments kept going in a similar vein, Four Good Days would have felt like a raw depiction of resilience and struggle. As this film is based on real events, I’m wondering if making the first two acts not feel as heavy would have made the third act not feel overwhelming and forceful. This is a very real and serious subject matter, and I’m sure Garcia and company were trying to pinpoint the nightmares of such a circumstance, but I can’t help and wonder if the film isn’t trying to force me – or any viewer – into feeling guilty tripped. It’s too bad because the final moments return to what the film could have been: a much more pure look at the ups and downs of living with a crippling condition that will forever linger behind you, even during the best of times.

Andreas Babiolakis has a Masters degree in Film and Photography Preservation and Collections Management from Ryerson University, as well as a Bachelors degree in Cinema Studies from York University. His favourite times of year are the Criterion Collection flash sales and the annual Toronto International Film Festival.