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  • 5 TV Series/Films That Accurately Portray Mental Health Issues

    5 TV Series/Films That Accurately Portray Mental Health Issues

    5 TV Series/Films that Accurately Portray Mental Health Issues

    TV shows and movies are widely loved for their ability to transport us out of our reality for a bit. But at the same time, film and TV can be a powerful tool for. pressing deeper into our experiences. They illuminate real issues that aren’t frequently discussed in our daily lives, such as sexual health topics, issues of gender identity and mental illness. For more information around mental health issues and gender dysphoria, visit Mind Diagnostics (https://www.mind-diagnostics.org/blog/gender-dysphoria). 

    Individuals living with mental illness often feel like others cannot possibly understand what they are going through. Seeing their experiences normalized on the screen can help them to feel seen and validated, and allows access to gaining deeper insight.

    Let’s take a look at 5 TV series/films that depict mental health issues in an authentic way, and have the potential to meaningfully connect with viewers on their own journeys.

    1. LOVE

    In this quirky Netflix series, Mickey and Gus navigate the ups and downs of building a romantic relationship in the midst of their personal challenges. Over the course of three seasons, we see Mickey come to terms with her addiction to alcohol, drugs and sex/love, as well as taking steps to seek support and move towards healthy functioning. As Gus encourages Mickey in her recovery, he has to acknowledge his own codependent tendencies and learn to tune into his emotional interior. 

    1. Feed

    This 2012 movie offers a complex look into the world of eating disorders. It debunks myths that these conditions occur primarily as a result of body ideals portrayed in the media. In the film, protagonist Olivia experiences the traumatic loss of her twin brother which triggers her dangerous spiral into anorexia nervosa. The ‘eating disorder voice’ is personified by her brother, feeding her lies about her worth, which begins to control her thoughts and behaviors. Feed provides an intimate look into the internal struggle of individuals living with an eating disorder. It also provides hope for what recovery can look like after fighting against the eating disorder voice and seeking help.

    1. Perks of Being a Wallflower

    Based on the book of the same name, this coming-of-age film features Charlie as he enters his first year of high school. He attempts to make friends and fit in while living with symptoms of depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. Naturally quiet and introverted, Charlie takes on a passive role and observes the world through the eyes of his friends and family members. As he begins to uncover and address his past trauma, he is able to step more fully into his healing and life.

    1. 6 Balloons

    This Netflix film accurately showcases the raw ugliness of drug addiction. It follows Katie as she discovers her brother Seth has relapsed in his heroin addiction and she drives him through the city to find a detox center. 6 Balloons does not shy away from displaying the destructive impact of addiction, not only for the individual but on their loved ones as well.

    1. Normal People

    This 12-episode series chronicles Connell and Marianne, who first meet in secondary school in a small town in Ireland and later reconnect as undergraduate students. Normal People offers an authentic look into the very real issues many young adults face. We see Marianne struggle with low self-esteem, trapped in a cycle of toxic relationships, while Connell falls into severe depression and seeks counseling for the first time. While Marianne and Connell’s complex relationship shifts and takes on different forms over time, they always occupy a central role in each other’s lives.

    These are just 5 TV shows/films that illuminate the complexity and ongoing challenges of living with a mental health condition. For people living with mental illness, it can be transformational to relate to a character on the screen, and realize that they are not alone in the challenges they are facing.

  • After Love: The BRWC Review

    After Love: The BRWC Review

    After Love: The BRWC Review. By Alif Majeed.

    SPOILERS AHEAD!

    Long static shots at the beginning of a movie are not unusual, but it feels like these long tracking shots have recently been used to open many indie movies. Like if there is a glossary book of cliches for indie movies, that would be one of those things in there.

    So as After Love opened, and the couple walked into their home, my reaction was oh wow, here comes the indie opening shot cliche. More than willing to switch off, I dint realize I was getting drawn into the couple’s lives as the scene continued. In those precise 5 minutes, the camera statically tracks their relationship for eternity. And it ends when you get that “oh” moment as the scene ends with the husband’s death.

    Having converted to from Mary to Fatima for the man she loved and the only person she has ever dated, they have been together for a long time at the start of the movie. While going through her husband Ahmed’s stuff after his death, she realizes he was in a relationship with another woman for a long time. Heartbroken and bitter at what she sees as a betrayal for all that she had given up for him, she goes to confront the other woman, Genevieve. Her plans go awry when she reaches Genevieve’s house and gets confused for the maid that the latter had requested at an agency. She starts to works at the house as she realizes that her husband also had a son with this woman and decides to wait and figure out how to deal with this situation as they are still not aware that Ahmed is dead. 

    If that sounds like a setup for an indie comedy about relationships and quirky hijinks, thankfully, the movie did not go that route. Despite the movie starting with the husband Ahmed’s death, Aleem Khan, the director, beautifully depicts his relationship with Fatima before the film begins. He explains enough about them throughout the movie while knowing when to let the audience fill in the gaps. The cassette tapes Ahmed made for Fatima during their courtship, which she keeps listening to as a reminder of the beautiful life they had, are a perfect example of that. 

    Joanna Scanlan has been around for a while now, but what she does here as Mary is a revelation as a woman suddenly having to make choices for herself which she hasn’t done for a long time. You do not judge her for choosing to forsake all her beliefs and convert to marry this man. Yet, her sadness while looking at the mirror, taking stock of how much her body has changed with her marriage, is possibly the scene that will stay with you as you realize her anger at what she had to give up to be with him. The bond she develops with the two people, Genevieve and her son Solomon, is pleasing to watch as you want to know that they will be okay with each other. 

    Again, there are cliched scenes from the indie playbook, like the scene where she goes into the room after landing up in France. When she pours the coffee, she pours two cups like she always did for her husband. But this scene comes across as an organic part of her life she has led so far. 

    If you have watched enough indie movies, you have a general understanding of how the film will play out. The director’s route to tell his story of these three people does sometimes border on tugging at our heartstrings, almost leaving us with no other option than to be moved by their predicament.

    But the thing is, the movie along with Fatima and Genevieve’s plight did affect me, as it was very easy to root for both of them. The former sadly realizing that her life has been a lie and the latter having to hide from her son the truth of their relationship with her husband and his father. As the movie ended, I was definitely happy with the place where the three principal characters ended up at.

  • Knots: A Forced Marriage Story – Review

    Knots: A Forced Marriage Story – Review

    Young girls being forced to marry is a practice usually attributed to other countries.  Knots:  A Forced Marriage Story documents the stories of three American women forced to marry at young ages.  Director Kate Ryan Brewer expertly balances their personal stories while enlightening the viewer on the issue of underage forced marriages.  The sad reality is that while most Americans assume that this does not happen within their borders, the practice has been legally—yes legally– occurring in the United States right under the noses of most Americans, and it is shockingly widespread.

    Nina Van Harn, Sara Tasneem, and Fraidy Reiss reside in different parts of the United States.  They had different religious upbringings.  In all three of their stories, however, there is a marked convergence between the religions of their upbringing and a suffocating patriarchal ideology.  Var Harn, now an adult, reflects that as a child she had to do whatever her father thought fit.  All three women were educated to believe that their gender role required them to be good wives and homemakers, and nothing more beyond that.  Tasneem’s odyssey was one that involved her marrying a man chosen by her father and getting pregnant by the age of sixteen. 

    Reiss’s story was reminiscent of the show Unorthodox.   It involved her parents hiring a matchmaker that found a partner suitable enough for her parents.  Reiss soon discovered that her husband was terribly abusive.  It is Reiss that gives us the most detailed description of the ideological worldview that traps young girls.  She notes that the early grooming that young girls are put through—gender specific schooling, homemaker training, restricting contact to only coreligionists—works more effectively than holding a gun to someone’s head and forcing them to marry.  If you get them early enough, young girls internalize the patriarchal ideology fed to them.  And of course, the biggest punishment is not necessarily physical, it is ostracism from the religious community.  

    Knots lays out the legal and structural landscape that allows underage forced marriages.  While sex between a minor and an adult is considered statutory rape in all states, all it takes in some states for an adult to marry a child is a letter from a parent granting permission.  The United States offers a patchwork of different loopholes and exceptions in the legal systems of different states that allow adults to marry minors.  It is not uncommon for parents to do Google searches aimed at finding states with the laxest laws in order to marry off their daughters. 

    For those who wonder why the United States would legally allow the forced marriage of minors, the answer may lie in the country’s historical unease with sexuality.  As one expert in Knots explains, the origin of all this may lie in the fact that in the 50s the country was very concerned with girls having sex or getting pregnant outside of marriage.  When parents had evidence that their daughters were having sex or had gotten pregnant, the solution was usually a shotgun wedding, regardless of age.  

    As dire as the legal landscape may seem, activists such as Reiss have been tireless in their efforts to close loopholes.  There has been some progress in states like Virginia.  In most states, however, progress has been slow.  Ideologies involving women’s sexuality and patriarchy are quite anchored in the American legal and political system.  For those who find it silly to historically link the Salem Witch Trials to present day America, Van Harn gives evidence that traces of America’s sexual past can still be detected in the present. 

    Her coreligionists instilled in her the beliefs that God was male and that any deviation in her behavior was evidence of her being a witch.  One cannot help but think that the latter belief is ludicrous while the former, in 2021, is well on its way to being ludicrous.              

  • Undine: Review

    Undine: Review

    Christian Petzold’s Undine is the film equivalent of mercury; it is difficult to pin down.  As the film unfolds, it shapeshifts from drama, to romance, to allegory, to fantasy.  Its mutability is precisely what makes it compelling.  The mortar that holds everything together is Undine Wibeau (Paula Beer).  Undine works in the office of Urban Development and Housing.  She is a historian who gives talks on the history of Berlin to guests and tourists.  She is professional and in total control of her subject; yet her personal life is falling apart.  

    The film opens with a shot of Undine in the midst of processing some terrible news.  Johannes (Jacob Matschenz) announces he has a new woman in his life and is breaking up with Undine.  Undine is shattered.  From there, the story gradually becomes more and more fantastical.  Undine has a chance encounter with Christoph (Franz Rogowski) involving an incident with a fish tank.  Post-fish tank, she and Christoph profoundly fall for each other.  Revealing more of the plot would ruin the magic of Petzold’s narrative; and it is precisely this magic, one expertly employed by Petzold, that is capable of seducing even the most hardened and cynical film realist.  If one lets their realist guard down, Undine will seduce you with its siren call.  

    Petzold is no stranger to collaborating with lead actresses.  His collaborations with Nina Hoss (Yella, Jerichow, and Barbara) brought to the screen some of the most complex female characters in the last two decades of European cinema.  Petzold has once again struck gold with his lead actress.  Paula Beer seems capable of doing everything and doing it exceptionally.  In one scene she is emotionally devasted, in the next she has to put on her brave professional face and give a history of Berlin to tourists.  Beer totally convinces us that she has had her heart shattered; hence, we wish we could step into the screen and comfort her.  She is able to conjure empathy in us.  We do not want her to be hurt again.  When she is bought brought back to life by Christoph—both figuratively and literally—her smile is like a powerplant capable of powering the whole of Berlin.  Beer captures that bittersweet feeling of departure and longing in the early stages of love.  She also captures that moment when you realize you have committed a huge mistake and your relationship is on the verge of collapse.  We could spend hours watching Beer on screen.  It should be no surprise she won the Silver Bear for Best Actress at the Berlin International Film Festival for her performance in Undine.   

    Undine is textually a folk tale and a romance.  Sub-textually, Undine is about how cities interact with, connect, and transform us.  We inhabit cities like Berlin, and they inhabit us.  Cities have their flows and rhythms—drainage systems, traffic patterns, architectures, lunchtimes, happy hours, closing times.  Cities also have their blockages.  These flows and blockages fuse onto us.  This is no mere philosophical abstraction.  Anyone caught in a traffic bottleneck or enjoying a smooth ride on a city subway can appreciate in a very tangible way how cities inhabit us through their blockages and flows.  Cities like Berlin have been mapped out, planned, they have grown, collapsed, and been rebuilt.  Berlin’s destruction after WWII and the GDR’s collapse were cataclysmic events felt by city and inhabitants.  Cities can never be completed.  They are assemblages in constant transformation.  In that sense, they are just like us.  Our lives, just like Undine’s, are always in a state of expansion, contraction, rebuilding, and transformation.  

    Petzold has given us a beautiful tale about a woman and a city.  Everything in Undine is liquid, it flows.  The city flows into the personal lives of inhabitants, the inhabitants flow with objects—trains, fish tanks, turbines.  Cities, objects, and individuals all inter-act in Undine.  One cannot help but think of another German, Martin Heidegger.  Undine is Heideggerian in showing us how everything fits in a meaningful network of purposes, functions, individuals, and lives experiencing the rhythms of existence, lives like Undine’s.

  • Keanu: The 21st Century Hero We All Need Right Now

    Keanu: The 21st Century Hero We All Need Right Now

    Keanu: The 21st Century Hero We All Need Right Now – During the course of his career, superstar actor Keanu Reeves has made a surprising amount of sci-fi films (not just The Matrix!) – he’s transported data in his brain while fighting off yakuza gangsters, tried to save the planet with green energy, and battled an evil android replica of himself. And he has done it all in that trademark Keanu style – inscrutable, cool, and unbeatable.

    Reeves recently explained why he was drawn to the sci-fi genre: “I’m curious about the future and I think growing up on William Gibson and Neuromancer, and reading Philip K. Dick, even Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, science fiction. I dunno, I just feel the motifs that occur in this kind of storytelling is oftentimes examining the world that we live in.”

    With The Matrix 4 currently in post-production, and with sci-fi cult classic JOHNNY MNEMONIC celebrating its 25th anniversary with a superb HD digital release, here’s a look at Keanu’s sci-fi roles onscreen, from cinema blockbusters to hit videogames.

    BILL & TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE (1989)

    Keanu’s first foray into sci-fi was in this hilarious comedy hit, starring as Ted, alongside Alex Winter as his buddy Bill, who set off in a time machine through the ages to do their history homework, meeting along the way Napoleon, Joan of Arc and Genghis Khan! The film made $40million – as Bill and Ted might say “excellent.”

    BILL & TED’S BOGUS JOURNEY (1991)

    The dopey duo returned for this sequel, this time getting killed off by robot counterparts, and having to take on the Grim Reaper (at Battleships and Twister) so that they can return to life and save the planet from an evil conqueror. The film was another big hit, and cemented Reeve’s as a box office star to be reckoned with.

    JOHNNY MNEMONIC (1995)

    Before The Matrix and Inception trod similar ground, Reeves starred in this ahead-of-its time sci-fi thriller set in 2021(!), as a futuristic data carrier with a gobsmacking 80GB storage capacity in his brain!! The first film adaptation of the work of legendary cyberpunk pioneer William Gibson, it is packed with slam-bang action, dazzling visuals, and wild, prophetic technical innovations, and features our hero saying the immortal line: “I can carry 80 gigs of data in my head!”

    CHAIN REACTION (1996)

    Keanu is a scientific genius who has developed a source of clean, green energy in this sci-fi thriller, that finds him on the run and framed for murder by a shadowy organisation. This is slam-bang action all the way, allowing Reeves to tool around on a 1976 Kawasaki while reactors blow up all around him.

    THE MATRIX TRILOGY (1999-2003)

    Try to imagine the Wachowski’s ground-breaking Matrix films with someone other than Reeves as Neo – the computer hacker that has a rude awakening when he realises the very nature of reality is not what it seems… let’s face it, Reeves is The Matrix, in all it’s kung-fu-learning, bullet deflecting, leather jacket and shades, and lots of guns glory. Bring on part four immediately!

    A SCANNER DARKLY (2006)

    Richard Linklater’s acclaimed animated adaptation of sci-fi legend Philip K Dick’s novel features Reeves (among an all-star cast including Robert Downey Jr and Winona Ryder) as undercover agent Bob Arctor, attempting to find out who is behind the supply of the dangerous Substance D drug that is sweeping the country. Like an arthouse version of The Matrix, this is a mind bending trip that gets inside your head.

    THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL (2008)

    A remake of the 1951 sci-fi classic, Reeves plays Klaatu, an alien visitor who comes to Earth with a giant robot in tow. Although Klaatu says he has come to save the planet, the authorities are not so sure of him. Come on, Keanu Reeves says his intentions are good – how can you doubt that dude?

    REPLICAS (2018)

    Reeves, once again, is a brilliant, workaholic scientist, here developing lifelike androids. When he loses his family in a car crash, he wants to bring them back to life as robots. Things don’t go quite according to plan…

    BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC (2020)

    The boys are back, and looking as youthful as ever, in the third Bill & Ted film which hit screens last year for a much needed dose of escapist sci-fi silliness. In this episode, the Wild Stallions are told they need to grow up and be responsible parents – which is all well and good until they set off on another time travel adventure to save the world… again!

    CYBERPUNK 2077 (2020)

    One of the biggest, and most eagerly awaited video games from last year, this cinematic epic is set in Night City, California, a place drenched in neon, rife with crime and robots. The main character V, a mercenary, is hired to steal a microchip from a big corporation – hold up, sounds a bit like JOHNNY MNEMONIC! Wait until the end of the trailer to see Keanu as ghostly rock star Johnny Silverhand.

    JOHNNY MNEMONIC WILL BE RELEASED ON DIGITAL PLATFORMS IN HD ON 10TH MAY 2021