Reviews

The Aviator

This 2004 film is a detailed, almost completely true biography of the extremely eccentric and acclaimed business tycoon, entrepreneur, investor, aviator, aerospace engineer, inventor, filmmaker, and more, Howard Hughes, who suffered from OCD. The script was written by John Logan and it was directed by Martin Scorsese. It stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Hughes, Cate Blanchett as Katharine Hepburn, and Kate Beckinsale as Ava Gardner (a later love interest). The film also features an interesting array of supporting characters. It was nominated for 11 Academy Awards, winning five for Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing, Best Costume Design, Best Art Direction and Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Blanchett.

The film chronicles, Howard’s rise to fame as well as his all-consuming struggle with severe OCD. It is terrifying, but intriguing and eye-opening as well. It makes for several especially upsetting scenes, including one early on where Hughes washes his hands compulsively until he bleeds and then stands staring at the bathroom door until it is opened for him. The other is closer to the end where he has confined himself to this private theatre where he sits naked, having not showered or shaved for days, editing a film. We also get the terrible image of jars and jars of his urine.

OCD is fucking horrifying, and it is important that this movie shows that, instead of glorifying it as so many other films have. It also manages to give an intriguing picture of such a prevalent anxiety disorder and how crippling it can be, even to some of history's greatest and most outgoing minds.

The Babadook

This is a surprisingly scary movie. It is called a dramnd psychological thriller, so I did not expect the amount of horror that this movie has in store, but it holds quite a lot, but not in a jump scare, blood and gore kind of way. I love those movies, but this is something special. It is a slow burn with suspense being its main scare tactic. It is chilling and leaves you wanting more, but scared of what might happen if you got it.

The story follows a young widowed mother, Amelia Vanek, who is played by Essie Davis, who works at an old age home. Her son, Sam, played by Noah Wiseman, is expelled from school due to his making weapons to protect himself against monsters and terrorizing other kids. He is very troubled, as his mother has not gotten over the death of her husband, Oskar, who was killed while driving her to the hospital to give birth to Sam. This comes up a lot over the course of the film. Because of it, Amelia has almost completely lost it.

One night Amelia finds a book called “Mister Babadook”, and reads it to Sam. It is the story of a demon-like creature that, according to the book, will force Amelia, to kill her dog and then her son. Soon, strange occurrences begin to happen around Amelia, the worst of which involves finding glass in her food, causes her to rip the book up and throw it away.

The next day, Amelia finds the “Mister Babadook” book reassembled on the front step. New words inside the book taunt her, claiming that the more she denies the Babadook the stronger it will become. Amelia burns the book and then receives a disturbing phone call where the caller simply says “Ba Ba Ba Dook Dook Dook”. She becomes more and more paranoid, seeing the Babadook's suit hung up in the police station. Then one night, Amelia sees a vision of her dead husband who agrees to return if she gives him Sam, and the Babadook takes hold. After this insane scene, which I will not spoil, Amelia and Sam move on with their lives. Several months later, they prepare to celebrate Sam’s birthday, but first Amelia goes down to the basement, bringing a bowl of worms with her for the Babadook.
I think it is clear that the Babadook is a manifestation of Amelia’s rage and grief. It is also hinted that she was once a children’s book author, which explains how such a terrifying book was written. It is truly one of the smartest and scariest movies I have ever seen, and it shines an important light on the mental health of mothers, which is often overlooked.

While the film is written and directed by the Australian rookie, Jennifer Kent, she could have fooled me. The craft and direction of the movie are both wonderful. So go see it for a good scare, and an even better look at the effects parents with mental illnesses have on their children.

Lars and the Real Girl

My seventh grade English teacher gave me the amazing advice to check out Lars and the Real Girl, a 2007 movie that was received rather poorly at the box office upon its release but has received much critical acclaim since.

Ryan Gosling plays Lars, a man who lives in a small town in the converted garage of his brother's house. He has difficulty interacting and relating to people in his life and as a result, becomes emotionally attached to a very lifelike sex doll that he purchased online. His brother and pregnant sister-in-law are initially freaked out when he introduces the doll as his girlfriend Bianca. Soon though, they and the rest of the small community, welcome Biancs a real girl, for Lars' is sake. Lars and the Real Girl eventually ends on an uplifting note, with Lars moving away from his fear of human interaction and as a result, letting Bianca die of an unexplained illness. The final moments show him beginning a romantic relationship with one of his coworkers, who is, in fact, a real girl.

This film is about a man with mental illnesses being accepted by his society to help him heal, which is absolutely idealistic and unreasonable, but beautiful too. Despite the irregularity of the plot, or perhaps as of it, the film is really artfully done. It is cute, moving, and even funny at times. If you want to smile and then maybe cry, just a little, or see an example of how people with mental illnesses should be treated by their communities, go see this movie.

Melancholia

This film does not pull any punches. In fact, it punches extra hard. It depicts depression extremely accurately and graphically. If you don't think you can handle that, don't even try to watch it. While it is the second entry in Lars von Trier's unofficially titled the "Depression Trilogy”, preceded by Antichrist and followed by Nymphomaniac, I find this film to be the strongest and most devastating.

The narrative revolves around two sisters, Justine and Claire, during and shortly after Justine’s wedding, while an approaching rogue planet is about to collide with Earth. There are two parts, but the film opens with a montage showing several metaphors that appear throughout the film. My favorite of these is black vines twisting up around Justine’s legs holding her back as she tries to walk across a field in her wedding dress. Now I always think of that image as the best way to describe how depression feels.

The first part centers around the picturesque wedding of the extremely fragile Justine, who is played by Kirsten Dunst with complete abandon, hateful recklessness, and yet, a quiet desperation. She is extremely depressed, and becomes more and more despondent. She leaves the party for long periods of time to partake in activities such as peeing on the golf course and angrily seducing her former employer's nephew. She ignores her new husband, the terribly bland Michael, played subtlety by Alexander Skarsgård, for most of the night, causing him to leave in frustration. While Justine carries on, Claire, portrayed by the remarkably underrated Charlotte Gainsbourg, is left to keep the party running, which appears to cause her great stress.

Part two deals more heavily with Justine's illness and her relationship with her sister. It opens just a few days later with Justine in an awful state. She is borderline catatonic, in fact. Meanwhile, Claire’s husband John, who is played by Kiefer Sutherland, and Leo, their son, look forward to the fly-by of Melancholia, a rogue, giant gas planet. Claire does not join in the fun, as she is terrified that Melancholia will collide with earth. Her fears are made worse by Justine's apathetic certainty that they will die. She even goes so far as to say, “The earth is evil. We don't need to grieve for it.” The morning after the fly-by, it appears that Earth is safe, until it is revealed that the planet is coming back at them.

In this adversity, Justine becomes the spiritually the strongest person. Claire panics, and Leo becomes scared, but is reassured by Justine who says that they can be safe in a magic cave, which she has promised to make with him several times in the film. The three sit in the magic cave, which is a wood tepee. Justine is stoic and calm as the world dramatically comes to a catastrophic end. It is devastatingly beautiful and also just straight up terrifying.

This film is truly disturbing, while at the same time being educational. I learned a lot about depression from watching this, and it was horrifying and almost debilitating. When the film ended, I found myself in a rather catatonic state. My behavior wasn't too different from that of Justine actually. I'm not joking, it was intense. So do see this movie, but be sure to prepare yourself first.

Short Term 12

I had heard good things about Short Term 12 when it came out in 2013, but I didn’t get around to seeing it until a year or two ago. Since, I have seen it three or four times, and I am not one to rewatch movies. It is based on a short film of the same name produced in 2009, but it's still pretty slight at only 90 minutes. I found though, as it ended that I wanted more.

The main character, Grace, played by the incomparable Brie Larson, the supervisor of Short Term 12, a group home for troubled teenagers, has completely captivated me as a character, who has lots of hidden demons of her own. The other characters are fantastically drawn too. They include Grace’s fellow employee and boyfriend, Mason, played by John Gallagher Jr., and the new guy, Nate played by Rami Malek. And those are just the adult characters.

The new arrival, Jayden played by Kaitlyn Dever, connects with Grace over their abusive fathers and history of self-harm. Grace spends most of the movie trying to protect Jayden from having to live with her father. At the same time, Grace suffers a personal crisis as her father is being released from jail, and she learns she is pregnant. She can't decide between an abortion or keeping it and making things work with Mason, who also grew up in foster care and wants to finally have a family of his own. Mason also works throughout the film to help Marcus, who is played by Lakeith Stanfield, a quiet boy who is about to age out of the system and doesn't want to leave, who Mason feels very connected to.

What I took away from this movie was that Destin Daniel Cretton, who wrote and directed this masterpiece, is amazing. He shows an intriguing portrait of foster care and group homes. This is one of his first full-length movies, but I can't wait to see more from him. This movie is beautiful and made me cry during a scene where Jayden reads to Grace a children's story she wrote. It is a tragic allegory about the human need of love and how people take advantage of it.

Short Term 12 is unique in its bold and unapologetic portrayal of so many people dealing with mental health issues and trauma. This movie is an amazing example of how these issues should be dealt with in movies. It is eye-opening, and I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

These five movies are examples of how different portrayals of different kinds of mental illness make for very unique movies that span many almost all genres and have varying critical and financial success. The critic briefly delves into the craft of these movies, and also provides a brief analysis of the accuracy of the mental illnesses portrayed, as well as her opinion on whether the film is an effective advocate for mental health awareness.