juli888
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- Jul 13, 2010
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- juli
Unique film which was pleasant to me for 2010г. It is film Avatar. It has amazed me with the individuality. It was sensation of year.
Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt /forum/thread/296480/2010-film-list-reviews-discussion-tracking/30#post_3737765
Originally Posted by Adam Lenhardt
Once again, though, he was just a bit too functional and cuddly to be believed. I left feeling like the film was presenting mental illness as a cold that needs to be gotten over than something that destroys some lives and affects others until they die.
I pretty much agree with what your analysis; dramatically, the movie is very sound. My experience with it is colored by my experience with mental illness among the young. Teenage mental illness is no more or less destructive than adult mental illness, and the movie's assertion that it is is what bothered me. Craig likely isn't mentally ill, just a highly stressed kid with an unfortunate response to anxiety in the form of vomiting. I can buy that ~ five days in the mental ward, giving him a break from the stress through a highly structured environment, would be enough to break him out of his depression. If he is mentally ill, he seems to function normally while properly medicated. At any given time, roughly 10 percent of the U.S. population meets the criteria for depression, and not all of those people are mentally ill. Noelle, however, clearly is mentally ill and I think the film glossed over that to provide Craig with an attractive romantic interest. From what I understand, the young adult novel the movie was adapted from when much further in depth into her problems and how she ended up there. Without the film providing explanation, the slashes on her face rang a false note, because cutters almost never selfharm in places that can't be easily hidden by clothing. The most realistic moment for Noelle was when Craig catches a glimse of the scars on her arm and she instinctually yanked her sleeve down to hide them.Originally Posted by Aaron Silverman /forum/thread/296480/2010-film-list-reviews-discussion-tracking/30#post_3738476
This is where I disagree and where I most admire the film: in its handling of Galifianakis' Bobby. It doesn't try to have Bobby "saved" by his interaction with Craig and suddenly able to go back to his wife and daughter. Whenever Craig confronts Bobby on this, Bobby runs for cover. In the end, he can't even face saying goodbye to Craig and just slips away -- all of which makes it clear that his whole act with Craig is paper-thin, and that Bobby is nowhere near being able to deal with real challenges and real responsibilities. Like a lot of so-called "role models", he offers Craig a glimpse of something, and then he's gone.
One of the film's central devices is throwing the teenage and adult patients together on the same ward because the teenage ward is being renovated. For the teenagers there's hope, because they're still being formed. The adults are pretty much stuck with who they are. The film sticks closely to the teenagers' point of view, which is why it feels upbeat, but by having Bobby disappear without even a goodbye scene, it leaves a dark shadow over the end. And I respect the film for doing that.