A Million Little Pieces

Reuniting for the first time since 2009's Nowhere Boy, Sam Taylor-Johnson directs her husband Aaron in this drama about a troubled addict forced into a six-week addiction programme. Based on the memoir by James Frey, the film shows the agony of recovery through a variety of inventive means, from an almost choreographed depiction of hitting rock bottom to a nightmarish scene involving dentistry. However, while we are well aware that Aaron Taylor-Johnson's protagonist is out of control, we see little of the person he is beneath the madness. There are some great supporting performances from Billy Bob Thornton as a fellow patient and Juliette Lewis as a psychiatrist, but the story itself is achingly predictable and content to go through the motions. A Million Little Pieces is an artistic and visually pleasing portrayal of the recovery process, but what it fails to do is tell the story of the man going through it.