CALL ME CRAZY: A FIVE FILM
US, 2013, 85 minutes, Colour.
Jennifer Hudson, Sarah Hyland, Melissa Leo, Mitchell Rouse, Octavia Spencer, Sofia Vassilieva, Brittany Snow, Ernie Hudson, Jason Ritter, Jean Smart, Lea Thompson, Melanie Griffith.
Directed by Bryce Dulles Howard, Laura Dern, Sharon Maguire, Bonnie Hunt, Ashley Judd.
A previous Five Film had treated stories of breast cancer. This collection focuses on mental illness and it is very effective in bringing home to audiences five different stories, different mental illnesses including schizophrenia, bipolar, depression.
The stories are brief but very well told, well-written and effectively directed by five women, women who have achieved as actresses and now show their skills in direction.
Lucy, played by Brittany Snow, appears in the first film as a law student suffering from hallucinations and voices, going to a counsellor played by Octavia Spencer, going to group meetings where she meets Bruce, Jason Ritter, communicates with him despite her voices and he introduces her to the labyrinth, somewhere to walk with questions, hoping for answers.
Then Lucy appears in the third story, Alison, with Alison, Sofia Vessilieva, going home to introduce her boyfriend to her parents and upset when she hears that her sister is coming. The sister is Lucy. By this time she is a successful lawyer but Alison goes back over the past, Lucy’s attempt to strangle her sister, honest talking with each other, with Alison afraid for our own mental safety.
Lucy finally appears in the last story, about Maggie, Jennifer Hudson, who comes home after war action to attend the funeral of her superior officer – and in flashbacks it is shown how he has continually raped her and she is unwilling to go to the funeral, despite the encouragement of his widow, Melanie Griffith. Her father is played by Ernie Hudson. In her breakdown she has attacked her son and now Lucy is her lawyer encouraging her to face her future.
The second story is, perhaps, one of the most telling because of its drama. A young girl, Grace, Sarah Hayden, takes care of her bipolar mother, a tour-de-force performance from Oscar-winner Melissa Leo, extravagant in her behaviour at a supermarket, secluding herself in darkness at home, going on a frenzied shopping trip with Grace’s friends, driving recklessly, not taking her medication, going to a therapist – with a final collage of the different faces of her in her illness.
There is a male story, Eddie, Mitchell Rouse, a stand-up comic suffering from depression, unable to face reality and people, except his audience and his black jokes, cared for by his wife, Lea Thompson, who does not understand but makes an effort.
Very interesting in itself is a film – but, obviously, a powerful tool for education about mental illness.
1. The aim of the film? Audience awareness of mental illness? Empathy and understanding?
2. Mental illness, and illness not something personally chosen? Responsibility/not? The repercussions for the person, for the family, for the public, the groups, the therapy?
3. Five stories, Lucy and connections, the different writers, the five women directors and their profiles?
4. The effect of each short story, interest, emotion, observation, understanding? Interconnections?
5. The character of Lucy, studying law, her experiences, the hallucination in the library, voices, trapped, her collapse? The visit to the counsellor, the warmth of the counsellor, attentiveness, offering some hope? Encouraging her to study? Going to the group, the different attitudes, willing to participate or not, wry comments? Bruce, talking, the suicide attempt? Friendship, the meetings, the test and Lucy hearing the voices, her explanation? The labyrinth? Having questions and walking, searching for answers?
6. Alison’s story, young, taking Luke to meet her parents, as a couple, aged 19, the drive, going home, the mother and the joke about the first visit and no gift, her cooking, the room, the doors taken off, the talk about the sister? The father picking up the sister? It turning out to be Lucy? At the meal, the tensions, Luke asking awkward questions, the mother comfortable with the answers, the parents having coped, the experience of the years? Lucy and Alison, Alison’s harsh reaction, going upstairs, telling the story to Luke, the attempt at strangling, her fears, Lucy hearing everything? Lucy outside, the two sisters talking, Lucy as a role model for her younger sister, the love, Lucy always better – and even sicker? Alison’s fear for herself and mental illness?
7. Lucy and Maggie, Maggie and her military service, the post-traumatic stress, arriving home, the welcome from her father, the embrace of her son? The commander and his death in action? The funeral, her refusal to get out of the car, the dead man’s wife and her encouragement, Maggie’s collapse, attacking her son, his ringing 911? The treatment, Lucy and her visit, the talk, the flashbacks to the brutality of the rape? The issue of custody? Court and Lucy strong appeal to the judge? Bruce in court supporting her? Lucy bringing her son for a visit, the boy waving, her talking with her father, his apology, Lucy encouraging Maggie, and ending in hope?
8. The story of Grace, her mother, bipolar, Melissa Leo’s powerful performance, creating a character in such a short time, the audience mesmerised by her? Her behaviour in the supermarket, on a high, people watching, her daughter’s reaction? The contrast with lying in the dark, Grace opening the window, her wanting to stay in the dark? Grace and her love for her mother, fostering her mother, the absent father? And the situation, her friends, going for the drive, shopping for the clothes, her mother’s recklessness, the driving, the girl and her fear, the other girl offering support? The medication and the mother not taking her pills, dropping them on the floor, collecting them, going into the therapist? The collage of her face and the various stages?
9. Eddie, stand-up comedy, the audience, the jokes, outside and his depression, his wife, at home, her care, reaction and not understanding, trying to communicate? His sleeping all day? Her going out, the guests for the barbecue, his trying to cope, going inside? His wife going to the comedy routine, discussion with the audience, the audience reaction, his black jokes? Going to the therapist, the explanation, the hope?
10. The cumulative effect of these stories – under 90 minutes?
