After an unexpected inheritance comes their way, Esper (Matt Farnsworth) and Donna (Diane Foster) plunge into the "batch" business - cooking their own methamphetamine - only to watch it burn a scorching hole in their lives. Left with no one to trust, the two lovers find themselves on the run from a corrupt parole officer (Michael T. Weiss), Esper's gold-digging mother (Rosanna Arquette) and their own consuming addiction.

BONUS FEATURES - Documentaries by director Matt Farnsworth:
"Poor Man's Dope" (short version) and "Dying for Meth" (extended version)

By Steve Kuehl "SLV Video" (Ben Lomond, CA)

I had heard loads about this Farnsworth guy playing Iowa years back at Tribeca and getting some awards. Was hoping for some artistic insight into a nasty topic whilst taking place in some scenery waiting to be captured.

I will admit, there were some great geography panoramas, a few nice town square shots and plenty of dilapidation preserves. But the plethora of tweaking episodes and unique camera angles attempting to make the watcher understand tweaking, gets overwhelming. The story revolves around a young couple trying to make a better life for themselves in a small city Iowa setting. Instead of going the right way, they cook meth, share needles, tweak, and then tweak some more. Splice in more forced/rape sex scenes then should be in a film like this, some disgusting flushed baby scenes, meth sex and voila, a film enamored with the fallout of meth usage.

There are obviously important points to take away from this, and it does not belittle the need to raise awareness on this scary epidemic, but it just feels muddled and lost too many times. Decent performances, nice footage, some short DVD extras make for an ok release, but definitely not rewatchable. Some of the cast and crew are making what appears to be a more approachable film this year so I know we will be seeing more of them.