good.film
2 years ago
No bones days, pandemic fatigue, self care - the mental health list goes on. In an age where mental health chatter is more prominent than ever, we can’t deny the impressive (and positive!) impact this has had on the movies we watch.
A quick skim of our guide to social impact entertainment shows just how powerful cinema is: not only does it entertain, but it has the ability to change our minds, our actions - and at the risk of sounding too optimistic - our entire worldview. So, mental health portrayals are more important than ever - and the more accurate, the better.
As frequent as these depictions may have recently become, the overall discourse of mental health in film is nothing new. Take David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook, for example - a film frequently commended for its realistic portrayal of bipolar disorder. Or Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower, a coming-of-age story chronicling the trials & tribulations of good ol’ high school through a lens of PTSD, anxiety and depression.
In 2022, we’ve enjoyed another refreshing change: we’re seeing women at the forefront of these stories, with more transparency than ever in the way they’re portrayed. So we’ve taken the liberty of exploring three of 2022’s finest films with our mental health hats on. Some are clear as crystal in their struggles; others take a highly stylized road, but all three films have one overarching theme in common - they celebrate being a woman honestly, in all of its messy, beautiful glory.
SPOILER ALERTS AHEAD! for Everything Everywhere All At Once, Don’t Worry Darling, and Not Okay.
First off, we have the critically acclaimed masterpiece that has been described by IndieWire as an orgiastic work of slaphappy genius (fun!). On a surface level, Everything Everywhere All At Once is simply about Evelyn Wang (Michelle Yeoh), an exhausted Chinese American woman just trying to do her taxes.
On a deeper level, it’s hard to put the experience that is Everything Everywhere All At Once into words. Conceptualized by directing duo Daniels (that's Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, for those playing at home), the film is a truly mind-bending, psychedelic-like adventure through the multiverse.
Our protagonist Evelyn appears to be incredibly dissatisfied with all the decisions she has made that have led to a mediocre life. That's until she realizes she has the power to save the world through all her different lives in alternate universes... or to put it another way, the ability to do everything, everywhere, all at once.
Evelyn comes across as scatterbrained - like when she tries to convince an IRS officer that a karaoke machine is an acceptable expense for a laundromat. A recent interview with Daniels confirmed that they always planned to write the character with undiagnosed ADHD, to "add to the chaos". Ironically, in researching the disorder, Daniel Kwan felt some similar pangs - and ended up getting diagnosed with ADHD himself. Looking back, Kwan admits the film reads as having been fully created by someone with ADHD, and hopes it could act as a cathartic gateway for people to discuss the disorder in their own lives.
Everything Everywhere also does a great job touching on the generational cycle of depression, particularly within an Asian family. One of the common threads between all the universes in the film is the dynamic of pain between Evelyn and her openly gay daughter, Joy. Evelyn's inability to show love and empathy to Joy contributes to her daughter's inevitable mental deterioration. Heartbreakingly, we learn that Evelyn felt that same lack of open love from her own father, Gong Gong; and yet she perpetuates the cycle of generational trauma and shame onto her daughter. But that cycle is shattered as Evelyn "displays the ultimate act of acceptance" - by introducing Joy's girlfriend to Gong Gong in Cantonese.
It's this beauty within the pain that proves it’s not all gloom and doom in the Everything Everywhere All At Once universe. The film is absurd and wild and wonderful, and delivers a beautiful light at the end of the tunnel.
If you’re into dystopian universes that lead with a strong female protagonist, Don’t Worry Darling (2022) is the film for you. Director Olivia Wilde’s second feature film, the film stars Florence Pugh and Harry Styles as Jack and Alice - a seemingly picturesque couple living in what appears to be a utopian experimental private community.
But as Alice begins to observe strange occurrences happen around her, she starts to realise that her living situation isn’t what it seems. Near the end of the film, the twist is revealed where it turns out that Alice is living in a simulation - in reality, she is a doctor who works ungodly hours, and returns exhausted each night to a dreary city apartment.
Her partner in the real world, Jack, has placed Alice in this simulation against her will, and leaves the simulation daily to fund their artificial lives together. A fight ensues, and Alice declares that she chose her life, and Jack had no right to unwillingly take it away - smashing the patriarchy disguised as domestic bliss.
For the cinephiles out there, the film is absolutely littered with easter eggs - from the geometric dancers in the film being based on Busby Berkeley’s choreography from the 1930s, to the many Alice in Wonderland references (so many windows and mirrors - Through the Looking Glass, anyone?)
On a performance level, Pugh utterly dominates on the silver screen (let’s be real, when doesn’t she?) as Alice, and as her surroundings seem to unravel, she remains determined to discover the truth. This is despite all the powerful, domineering men surrounding her, assuring her that - don’t worry, darling! - everything is fine.
One noteworthy aspect of the film is one of Alice’s friends, Margaret (KiKi Layne), who wanders into the forbidden desert and ‘sees the truth’, which is then dismissed as hysteria. Margaret later appears to end her life in front of Alice, although Alice is later ‘reassured’ that she is still alive. Bit suss then, when Margaret is never seen in the film again…
Once Alice starts to have similar experiences to Margaret, much of the film focuses on her facing the same treatment - being consistently ignored and dismissed, with doctors and men in positions of power labeling her outbursts as simple “female hysteria.”
As chaos begins to descend - and Alice gets closer and closer to the truth - it’s clear that our powerful protagonist isn’t going to stop. With everything standing in her way, and all of her claims being dismissed as mental instability, she flips the script.
The ending is left ambiguous, but happily for those of us rooting for Pugh’s character, it’s heavily suggested that Alice makes it out of the simulation at the very last second - woot woot! Covering themes of male dominance, mental unease, and power imbalance, we’re calling it: Don’t Worry Darling is a stunning and stylized success story.
In today’s day and age, it can feel impossible to find real, genuine connections - as Instagram Stories become the Holy Grail and TikTok views are the new self-worth metric. Too bleak? We’ve got you. Not Okay (2022) is a satirical, belly-laugh worthy look at all of this and more, as we watch the journey of the extremely unlikeable Danni Sanders (Zoey Deutch) turn into the most hated person on the entire Internet (no, really, the whole Internet).
Dying to feel relevant (and also be noticed by her crush Colin, played by the iconic Dylan O’Brien), Danni fakes a trip to Paris using her photoshop skills and social media accounts. But when a bombing takes place in Paris for real, Danni keeps the charade going - despite being thousands of miles away - and adopts the role of ‘terrorist attack survivor’. She pretends to become an activist for violence and even writes an article about her experience that later goes viral, titled #IAmNotOkay.
It’s when she crosses paths with a young school shooting survivor, Rowan Aldren (Mia Isaac) that things get messy. They forge a friendship which is later completely destroyed as the truth about Danni’s deception comes to light. One of the particularly commendable parts of the film is the lack of a redemption arc - forcing Danni (and us in the audience) to bask in the repercussions of the decisions she made.
The contrast between Danni and Rowan is an interesting one, as both have their clear share of mental health struggles. One chose to exploit a real tragedy with zero real involvement… the other used a genuine traumatic incident in her life to promote and fight for real change.
From the beginning of the film, it’s clear that Danni struggles with her mental health - taking antidepressants religiously, exhibiting signs of intense loneliness, and having no direction or sense of identity. The film makes it even more interesting when combining Danni’s problematic decision-making with the character of Rowan, who takes her mental struggles and uses them as a driving force for the better (ahem, sound familiar?).
Whatever your feelings about Danni Sanders (and she’s designed to be unlikeable, so don’t feel bad), her inner turmoil can’t be disputed. Writer/Director Quinn Shepherd cleverly incorporates real life influencers with similar traits to Danni’s character, like the notorious Caroline Calloway (who, fun fact, makes a cameo in the film herself!)
Overall, Not Okay is more than just a dive into the pitfalls of social media. Yes, it’s an easy watch that uses satire to comment on today’s ubiquitous influencer-driven culture. But it’s also a funny and fascinating look at the contrasting behaviors of mental illness, and those using it as a driving force; whether that be for the good, the bad, or the ugly.
If there’s one thing we do know - from unlikeable protagonists to women who value truth over comfort, to battling the literal multiverse - there’s some female-led goodness here for everyone, and all of them tackle the complexity of mental health in their own fresh & fabulous way.
Feel that our list is lacking? Do you have your own additions? We’ve got you covered. Sign up at good.film to find movies tackling mental health from all directions, and if you’re interested in even more causes - you’re in luck, we’ve got those too. Vote on different movies and TV series covering the causes you care most about. Make the change where you feel it matters most, and inspire more good for everyone around you - now that’s good karma!