Body Brokers

Body Brokers is a 2021 American crime drama film written and directed by John Swab and starring Jack Kilmer, Michael Kenneth Williams, Jessica Rothe, Alice Englert, Peter Greene, Frank Grillo, and Melissa Leo. The film concerns a young drug addict brought to Los Angeles for treatment and to start his life over. The man learns the rehab center is not meant to help drug abusers, but is really an organized health insurance fraud ring enlisting addicts to recruit other addicts. This was Michael Kenneth Williams' last film to be released in his lifetime before his death on September 6, 2021. It had a limited release in the United States on February 19, 2021, by Vertical Entertainment. Plot The film opens with a commercial for New West Recovery (NWR), a Los Angeles-based rehab center founded by ex-addict Vin. In narration, Vin boasts that, thanks to the 2010 passage of Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, drug addiction and recovery are now pre-existing conditions, creating a large industrial complex for treatment clinics across Southern California alone. In Columbus, Ohio, homeless junkie couple Utah and Opal rob convenience stores to fund their habit. Opal also makes money as a sex worker for truckers. While panhandling, the duo encounter NWR sponsor Wood, who offers them a meal and an opportunity to get clean. Opal assumes Wood is a Christian proselytizer, but the man reiterates he's only offering drug rehabilitation. Utah accepts the offer and flies to Los Angeles with Wood. Opal, hardened by heroin and crack addiction, stays behind in Ohio.