by Shane Conto, Staff Writer
How does a film respectfully represent mental illness on screen? You can go in the direction of full-blown detailed and uncompromising representation. This might be triggering for some and overbearing for others, but it does not shy away from the truths involved. You can present them metaphorically in a way that you have an engaging tale that is not explicitly about mental illness, but offers parallels that the audience can use to build understanding and respect. Sometimes these themes are barely tackled and leave much to be inferred for the sake of not burdening the audience. There is a tricky tightrope for a filmmaker to walk, and writer-director Addison Heimann goes all out.
What is the mental illness focused story that Heimann tells in their film Hypochondriac? A young man is almost strangled to death by his mother to begin with. Yes… things start off that dark. You can imagine this might be one of those uncompromising portrayals then. Leap 18 years into the future and our lead, Will (Zach Villa), is finally contacted by his mother after years. This triggers an unfortunate spiral that destroys the relationship he has with his boyfriend, his job, and forces him back into a world with his toxic and harmful parents. What starts as dizziness and arm pain begins to escalate to full blown delusions and self-destructive behavior. This experience is unrelenting to say the least.
But does Heimann do justice to this fragile and important story? In ways, yes, but in others, this film falls in on itself. From a technical standpoint, it is great. The camera is framed perfectly in each shot, the movements expand the scene, and the camera knows when to reveal and when to restrain. As the film progresses, the audience (and Will) are tortured by the presence of a disturbing wolf. Unfortunately, it is quite distracting that this entity looks like a complete rip-off from Donnie Darko. But this specter is a bold representation of Will’s childhood trauma and impending stress on his mental health. The visuals are unnerving but the whole third act of the film is incoherent, and it becomes increasingly hard to connect when everything we see is fake and imagined. There are no stakes or tension anymore when it is just there for the sake of cheap scares.
Let’s look at the characters that fill out this unnerving film, shall we? Will is portrayed earnestly by Villa, and he has plenty of personality to hook us in. The challenge for Villa becomes making the audience feel his pain and the torturous experience he is going through. Trust me… he sells it. His boyfriend Luke (Devon Graye) is the only other likable character (for the most part) in the whole rest of the film. But we do struggle to see how he puts up with so much. Every other character is either completely insane (like Will’s mother), or a distant and uncaring piece of garbage. This exaggerates much of the narrative and makes it harder to stay grounded, especially once Will starts to really decline and be engulfed by his delusions. They are so terrible that you might be scratching your head about how these characters are even supposed to represent real people in some way.
With all the noise and clutter, does the message land? You might struggle until the final moments to really latch onto the deeper themes of the film, but the combinations of bold metaphors and uncompromising reputation offer up a staggering impact. This might be muddled and messy, but it is hard to not feel something and feel terrible for Will as he goes through his struggles. We see the terrible system that we live in and the lacking support that should be there for those struggling. The statements that Heimann are making come in like a sledgehammer with some impressive weight. This is a messy go, but still an unnerving and impactful experience with themes that have never been more relevant than they are today.
Score: 6/10
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