Family viewing

Ex-junkie Tony Asimakopoulos explores the ties that bind in his first-person doc Fortunate Son

For Tony Asimakopoulos, an addiction to heroin meant leaving his hometown of Montreal and heading into rehab. That was over a decade ago, and the filmmaker says that when it hap­pened, he needed to escape the city and its various temptations. That meant over 10 years of work in Ottawa. “And that was an odd time, because I never thought I’d settle there, I knew it was only temporary,” he says. Upon his return to our fair city, something struck Asimakopoulos: “I realized how hard my addiction had been on my parents, and I realized how much time had gone by and how much of their lives I’d missed.”

Thus Asimakopoulos ventured to make the documentary Fortunate Son, a feature-length exploration of his occasionally strained relationship with his loving parents. The film shows us Mom and Dad revealing how horrified they were to find needles in Asimakopoulos’s room, clearly indicating his habit. Dad blames himself, suggesting he should have seen the signs. The doc is a poignant mix of what feels like home movie footage—a trip to Greece, a wedding, meal time at the Asimakopoulos household—with harsh emotional realities laid bare.

Asimakopoulos says that convincing his parents to appear on camera wasn’t entirely easy. He has always talked openly about his addiction and the ramifications on his personal life. (He appeared in John L’Ecuyer’s excellent 1997 doc Confessions of a Rabid Dog, in which several recovering heroin addicts were profiled.) But bringing his parents into the equation was a different thing. “They weren’t thrilled. I had to convince them there was a good reason for it. My situation is actually rare—only a small percentage of people get off the stuff and stay off of it. I told my parents it was important to be honest and talk about it. They did it for me.”

Produced by EyeSteelFilm (the local production house behind S.P.I.T.: Squeegee Punks in Traffic and Up the Yangtze), Fortunate Son will take its bow on the film-fest circuit this year. “For me, the toughest part about making this has been including myself in the film. I never wanted to be in it, though of course I have to be. I wanted to simply be a ghost. But eventually I had to turn the camera on myself too.” ★

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