Anna Boden, Ryan Fleck/2010 USA/101 min
Showing @Vue 7 Wed 20 & Vue 5 Thu 21
Following 2005’s critically lauded Half Nelson and 2008’s only-slightly-less-acclaimed Sugar, writing/directing duo Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck’s latest is tonally a marked change of pace, though it does retain the empathy for the socially marginalised that marks their previous work.
Faithfully adapting Ned Vizzini’s 2006 novel, the story concerns depressed adolescent Craig (Keir Gilchrist) who, after attempting to hurl himself off the Brooklyn Bridge, commits himself to a psychiatric hospital, where he’s required to stay for five days. There he befriends Bobby (Zach Galifianakis), a depressed father with a history of attempted suicide, and the similarly scar-wristed Noelle (Emma Roberts), who arrests his attention.
“Depression isn’t something to be embarrassed about,” a doctor tells Craig early on, “it’s a medial condition. Would you be embarrassed if you had diabetes?” It’s something you don’t hear enough about mental illness, with many who are chemically better equipped viewing it as some kind of character defect, and it’s this thoughtfulness and compassion that permeates the work, an ode to those who just can’t seem to handle life’s troubles. Gilchrist inhabits convincingly a complex role, while Galifianakis provides the standout performance, tickling the funny bone and pulling the heartstrings in equal measure. It’s let down only by a slightly forced romance and a finale that, though sarcastically aware of its sentimentality, nevertheless risks nausea with its saccharinity. Stylistically, this is Boden and Fleck’s boldest work, filled with Scorsese-esque whip-pans and freeze-frames; though it at times risks the kind of cut-price-Wes Anderson-feel that characterizes the likes of Jason Reitman, there’s enough visual ingenuity and flair to ensure the duo have the style to bolster their considerable substance.