There may be nothing humorous about having a nervous breakdown, so it’s extraordinarily admirable when somebody can’t solely share their story with the world, but in addition handle to insert humor right into a tough scenario. Author/director Addison Heimann’s function movie debut, Hypochondriac, is an intimate, and typically hysterical, glimpse into his personal private expertise with psychological sickness and the movie is premiering at this 12 months’s SXSW Movie Competition.
Hypochondriac follows a younger, homosexual man named Will, performed by Zach Villa (American Horror Story), who provides a splendidly genuine efficiency. When Will was a toddler, his mom (Marlene Forte) started appearing unusually and after changing into violent, was admitted to a psychiatric hospital. Will then reduce off all communication together with his mom, partially on the recommendation of a therapist, performed by Paget Brewster (Felony Minds), and eighteen years later, he has a boyfriend and a job as a potter for an unique gallery. On the floor, Will appears to have his life collectively. He helps his co-worker Sasha (Yumarie Morales) handle her panic assaults at work and goes house to his loving boyfriend, Luke, performed by Devon Graye (Dexter), who cooks extravagant meals for him. In line with Will, all the pieces is ok, till his mom begins continuously leaving rambling voice messages and sending him packages with empty DVD circumstances and nonsensical notes.
Will has no need to speak to his mom, however she gained’t cease contacting him, and finally, he begins affected by uncommon bodily signs. He incessantly forgets to eat, will get dizzy, and his arms mysteriously go numb. Even worse, Will thinks he’s seeing a wolf, who additionally calls his identify. The wolf seems loads like Frank the Bunny from Donnie Darko. There are additionally scenes of Will sitting with the wolf that additionally appear to be referencing the movie and are efficient in the way in which these scenes illustrate the start of his wrestle with psychological sickness, much like the movie show scene with Donnie and Frank in Donnie Darko.
Repeated journeys to the physician and lab work make Will’s scenario much more irritating when the medical doctors inform him he’s solely affected by stress. Hypochondriac feels extremely private and Villa’s profoundly emotional efficiency of a person helplessly descending into insanity is spectacular and shifting. Will’s hallucinations of the wolf enhance and shortly he’s affected by paranoia and unable to find out what’s actual and what’s solely in his thoughts. He’s frightened of ending up like his mom and returns to see his previous therapist Dr. Sampson (Brewster), who prescribes anti-psychotics. The medicines don’t appear to be serving to Will and as his visions change into extra bloody and violent, he reaches out to his father, hoping for comfort. As an alternative, Will’s father is apathetic to Will’s sickness, very similar to he was together with his mom, leaving Will to really feel very alone on the planet.
Will’s typically agonizing journey to the belief he’s experiencing a nervous breakdown isn’t all miserable. Heimann skillfully injects small doses of darkish humor into the story, which makes Hypochondriac all of the extra real looking. Even when it appears like all the pieces is terrible, it’s nonetheless attainable to seek out issues to chuckle about in life and typically that’s what provides us hope. When Will leads to a psychiatric hospital, he’s pressured to lastly confront the wolf, in addition to his psychological sickness. He can both settle for this truth about himself and learn to dwell with it, or he may give up.
In the end, Hypochondriac is humorous, heartbreaking, and thought-provoking. Heimann’s willingness to share the story of accepting his personal nervous breakdown in a brutally trustworthy, and typically amusing approach, together with Villa’s extraordinary efficiency as Will, is awe-inspiring. Hypochondriac additionally reminds us that no matter how dangerous issues is perhaps, typically it’s okay to chuckle and laughter could be therapeutic.
Film Rating: 4/5