Body Brokers (2021 film)

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Star – Frank Grillo & Michael Kenneth Williams My Rating **** Genre – Crime Drama Run Time – 151 Minutes. Certificate – R19 Country – U.S.A = = = = = = = = = Social media has been awash with antivax conspiracy stuff for a while now, none more so during the pandemic. Most of it is paranoia from people with no brains following people with brains online spouting this crap exploiting the former for money and attention with their social media presence. They - mostly Americans - think the vaccine kills a lot of people and its all for Pfizer and co’s profits. It’s not wise to take them down on social media as they hunt in packs. Body Brokers is a movie about that alleged medical profiteering and does raise an eyebrow or two and just how profiteering private medicine has become in America, where everyone is expected to have health insurance. I’m not saying the antivaxers may have something but this film is interesting. The movie is based on the real life experiences of the writer and director here Jon Swob and his time in drug rehab and the patient brokering culture around it, clinics hunting for addicts to fill their expensive spots. Although not a true story it uses composite characters and experiences he may have encountered in the Southern Californian rehab system to create his movie. After watching this I looked into to the way private health insurance works over there and can see why this movie got made. It lead star is Val Kilmer and Joanne Whaley’s son Jack Kilmer. ===Cast=== • Jack Kilmer as Utah • Michael Kenneth Williams as Wood • Jessica Rothe as May • Alice Englert as Opal • Peter Greene as Dr. Riner • Frank Grillo as Vin • Melissa Leo as Dr. White • Thomas Dekker as Jacko • Sam Quartin as Tina • Renée Willett as Penny • Pam Dougherty as Miss Tee ===The Plot=== 18-year-old druggies Utah (Jack Kilmer) and May (Jessica Rothe) are always looking for their next fix, on the road and getting cash how they can. The couple are about to encounter Wood (Michael Kenneth Williams) , black guy who takes sympathy on them and buy them a meal and drink in a dinner. Wood offers them an opportunity to get clean. 24 hours later Utah splits with his girl and takes up the offer, she not interested, the kid taking his place in a rehab unit near Los Angeles. There he gets through grueling cold turkey and soon settling in and going through the phases of recovery, each plan paid for by his healthcare plan, in his case the US government. When he reaches 30 days clean he can leave the facility. But Wood sees potential in the boy for a new start and lets him on a little secret. The rehab unit is the center of Wood’s income, not only recruiting addicts like Utah but getting addicts to find other addicts and get them to check in for the 30 days so earning the clinic hundreds of thousands of dollars, and the kids paid a cut for every recruit, and you know what they will probably spend the money on, meaning they will return and do rehab all over again, earning Wood and his partner-in-crime Vin (Frank Grille) even more money. But is it legal is the question and will that play on Utah’s conscious? ===Results=== I quite enjoyed this one and highlight’s a rather interesting conflict in American healthcare that if everyone has heath insurance then it can be rinsed big time. Middle Americans don’t really want to have their kids as addicts and so will pay to have them cleaned up. With the Fentanyl crisis accelerating in the USA the industry can only get more lucrative. This is labeled as a conman thriller but it’s actually quite well written and paced and more an interesting Indy film than an action movie. The young cast is vibrant and occasionally comic with the experience of Grillo, Williams and the rather ancient looking Melissa Leo adding some acting chops. Well worth a look I you can find it on TV. ===RATINGS=== Imdb.com – 6.2 /10.0 (3.5k votes) Rottentomatos.com –61% critic’s approval ===Trailer=== https://www.imdb.com/title/tt9585676/