Not an easy watch, and I'm sure not for everyone, this film takes an insightful look at bipolar disorder. I will say the movie opened my eyes to a number of aspects of the illness.
Katie Holmes and Luke Kirby are both excellent in their lead roles here as Carla and Marco. They're both poets and have bipolar disorder, and while being treated at a mental hospital they form am instant chemistry. After their release, they will eventually try and start a relationship, despite all the hurdles and obstacles facing them and their parents fears and protestations.
Carla and Marco throw away their meds, believing that allowing their manic phases to thrive will enhance their creativity. However, when Carla becomes pregnant with their child, they will each have to make decisions whether to continue on the wild ride they're on or start taking their meds again and stabilize.
Filmmaker Paul Dalio. making his directorial debut here, has infused his own experiences with bipolar disorder into the movie. Plus, author and renowned psychologist Kay Jamison, who herself appears late in the film, discusses her battles with bipolar disorder with Carla and Marco. Jamison, in her book "Touched With Fire", has shown how many great artists and authors throughout history have suffered from this mental illness, including Hemingway, Tchaikovsky, Edgar Allen Poe, and Lord Byron (among many others).
All in all, as mentioned, not an easy watch and not an escape film, but the movie, despite its rough spots, kept me engaged and interested enough to want to know how it would all play out. Plus, I learned quite a lot about bipolar disorder along the way.
Katie Holmes and Luke Kirby are both excellent in their lead roles here as Carla and Marco. They're both poets and have bipolar disorder, and while being treated at a mental hospital they form am instant chemistry. After their release, they will eventually try and start a relationship, despite all the hurdles and obstacles facing them and their parents fears and protestations.
Carla and Marco throw away their meds, believing that allowing their manic phases to thrive will enhance their creativity. However, when Carla becomes pregnant with their child, they will each have to make decisions whether to continue on the wild ride they're on or start taking their meds again and stabilize.
Filmmaker Paul Dalio. making his directorial debut here, has infused his own experiences with bipolar disorder into the movie. Plus, author and renowned psychologist Kay Jamison, who herself appears late in the film, discusses her battles with bipolar disorder with Carla and Marco. Jamison, in her book "Touched With Fire", has shown how many great artists and authors throughout history have suffered from this mental illness, including Hemingway, Tchaikovsky, Edgar Allen Poe, and Lord Byron (among many others).
All in all, as mentioned, not an easy watch and not an escape film, but the movie, despite its rough spots, kept me engaged and interested enough to want to know how it would all play out. Plus, I learned quite a lot about bipolar disorder along the way.