Manic (2001) is one of the best films I've ever seen regarding mental illness and it's incredibly underseen.

The film has a great cast to start off. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Zooey Deschanel, Don Cheadle and takes place the whole time in a mental institution with a group of adolescents dealing with depression and anxiety.

Ive dealt with depression and anxiety most of my life and it's brutally honest in it's depiction of mental illness and for that I really appreciate it.

It offers answers but instead of focusing on those it asks how do you make people care enough to try to be happy? I mean at one point one of the characters is told that this is probably something that the anger he lives with he might have to deal with for the rest of his life. It's sad but it is honest.

I also love that we occasionally get the viewpoint of Don Cheadle as the doctor. It has to be frustrating seeing so many people in pain and feeling like there's no progress, especially seeing the same people again.

The other thing that really hit home is the group scenes where people discuss their problems and hardly anyone wants to talk. That awkwardness and nervousness is present throughout, took me straight back to the mental hospital and being in those group therapy sessions.

The only downside is the camera can be incredibly shaky and annoying at times but it is intentional. It represents the internal conflict and constant tension that resides even in the quiet moments of everyone's mind and living with that unease.

There's more I could say but I encourage that if you know someone who has mental illness or deals with it to watch this film. It offers a hopeful ending but at the same time is grounded in we have no concrete answers and all that all were able to do right now is manage it and that's ok.

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