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The phantom worlds of Nina Menkes

Features

The 12 step program

ALERT THE MEDIA: Arthur takes a bath.

Movie: The Lost Weekend (1945)
Set me up: Don Birnam, a rampant alcoholic, is supposed to go on a weekend trip to the country with his girlfriend. Instead he goes on a four day bender, sullen and alone. It could be his last.
What’s your poison?: Whiskey.
Drunk Talk: “It shrinks my liver, doesn't it, Nat? It pickles my kidneys, yeah. But what it does to the mind? It tosses the sandbags overboard so the balloon can soar. Suddenly I'm above the ordinary.”
Drunk Moment: Don’s talk with Nat about alcoholic “dreams.”
Hangover: Don may meet his maker.
Rehab: Writing is the pathway to the soul.

Movie: Days of Wine and Roses (1962)
Set me up: Once a casual drinker, Joe Clay succumbs to the peer pressures of co-workers and becomes an alcoholic. Upon meeting his wife Kirstin at a party, he takes her down with him.
What’s your poison?: Nothing but the hard stuff for Joe and Kirstin.
Drunk Talk: Lee Remick to Jack Lemmon: “This is the way I look when I'm sober. It's enough to make a person drink, wouldn't you say? You see, the world looks so dirty to me when I'm not drinking.”
Drunk Moment: Joe’s terrifying collapse at the hospital ward.
Hangover: Joe and Kirstin recede from casual drunks into pathetic addicts.
Rehab: Nothing does the trick like AA.

Movie: The Fire Within (1963)
Set me up: Alain Leroy is an alcoholic who leaves the hospital where he’s being treated to seek solace in the company of his friends. None will prove helpful
What’s your poison?: Hard Liquor
Drunk Moment: Alain’s dazed wandering around the clinic.
Hangover: Is suicide really painless? Alain may find out.
Rehab: If Marilyn Monroe can’t get you out of your funk nothing can.

Movie: Animal House (1978)
Set me up: Delta House is the most undisciplined fraternity in the history of Faber College. When Dean Wormer puts the whole frat on “Double Secret Probation” the party could be over permanently.
What’s Your Poison?: Beer
Drunk Talk: “Over? Did you say "over"? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell no!”
Drunk Moment: The toga party
Hangover: The boys get tossed out of Faber, but not before they get even.
Rehab: Are you kidding? Belushi rides off into the sunset!

Movie: Strange Brew (1983)
Set me up: Bob and Doug Mackenzie are in the fight of their lives to regain their beloved Elsinore Brewery. To do so they’ll have to duke it out with the mysterious brewmaster.
What’s your poison?: Strange brew get it?
Drunk Talk:"If I didn't have puke breath, I'd kiss you."
Drunk Moment: Bob and Doug’s trial in court when Bob remarks about the judge “He's startin' to sound like the old man. Soon he'll be sending me out for beers.”
Hangover: No
Rehab: Don’t expect these hosers to quit anytime soon