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Dir. Dana Heinz Perry
Rating: 7.5 | 0 User Reviews | Send to Friend
PHILLY FILM FEST: APRIL 2 & 4
It’s refreshing to see a movie not made for pure entertainment. A documentary formed by piecing together home movies and interviews with friends and family, the film, about a child’s premature death, taps into such a wealth of raw emotion, it becomes an searing journey into a parent’s worst nightmare. Director Dana Heinz Perry, mother of Evan, investigates her son’s life and death after years of his suffering from bipolar disorder along with depression. Partially produced to bring closure to those around him, the film explores the suffering of other children living with bipolar disorders and how they amplify depression. Perry's strength and determination to show her son's story can be utterly wrenching. Watching home videos of Evan's already disturbingly calm stare as a 7-year-old, as he talks about killing himself is unsettling to say the least. At one point, Evan’s psychologist, Ladd Spiegel, reflects on the seriousness of bipolar disorder, referring to it as a pschologist's “cancer." that eventually "kills people.” Luckily, the film balances such unnerving scenes by highlighting Evan's more wonderful qualities. He was a highly energetic, loving and talented child, a filmmaker himself from an early age. If nothing else, the film really does an admirable job capturing the ups and downs of the disease of bipolar disorder, which tends to yo-yo its victims in a never ending surge and crash. The idea that Dana and her husband Hart were able to deal with their child’s death in order to make this film is almost beyond comprehension. At one point, Dana admits that she first went into the project seeking closure but, ultimately, it’s not what she wants you to get out of the film. “It’s not about who he was or what happened to him," she explains, "its about knowing that someone loved him enough for you to remember his name.”
For PFF tix and showtimes: Boy Interrupted
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