Prozac Nation is a movie that’s been on my Netflix Queue for a long time. It’s been one of those movies that keeps getting pushed down when something more interesting comes up, with the reasoning that I’ll get to it eventually. I wish I hadn’t gotten to it. It’s one of the more infuriating movies I’ve seen in a long time, and that’s not a good thing.
Perception, the TNT television show, has an interesting hook. The main character, Dr. Daniel Pierce, is a neuroscientist who assists the FBI with cases. He also has paranoid schizophrenia. Instead of making him an empty shell of nervous tics, the show makes Dr. Pierce a fully formed person.
Entering its second season, Perception focuses on Dr. Pierce, played wonderfully by Eric McCormack, and Agent Kate Moretti, played by Rachel Leigh Cook. She’s a former student of his who brings him in to help with cases. Together, they solve crime and try to understand the brain. Dr. Oliver Sacks, the world renowned author and neuroscientist, is an advisor on the show, which helps with the accuracy of science and with the portrayal of brain disorders of all kinds.
Sometimes, smaller movies are the best avenues to discuss mental health on film. There are numerous ways to interpret an illness, and by taking a smaller, more daring approach to the material, filmmakers can say more about what it means to deal with a mental illness than if they tried to appease the masses. Keane takes that approach, and it makes for an interesting movie, if not a clear story. By putting the scenes of the movie out of order, he makes a statement about what perception means and how movies can express it.
This week, I was invited to a special screening of the documentary Happy, along with a question and answer session with Therese Borchard, author of Beyond Blue: Surviving Depression and Anxiety and Beating Bad Genes (and guest at our upcoming Annual Conference!). Before the screening, I was only vaguely aware of the documentary, but I’m glad I saw it.
I know I was supposed to review Safe, the Todd Haynes-Julianne Moore movie about hypochondria and allergies, but due to a number of unforeseen circumstances (mostly of my own making), I wasn’t able to get a copy of it. Instead, I did what I always do when things aren’t going my way; I went to the movies. At the suggestion of a colleague, I saw Iron Man 3. It turned out to be a great movie on a lot of levels, especially in its discussion of mental health.
Coping with plenty of leisure activities and sense of purpose in life
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