The Year Between

I noticed the low rating but failed to read any reviews. Mainly because I didn't care and also I'd already watched some of the movie before I went to the page. I had to make sure the brother was who I thought he was...anyway...so I thought this was a good movie! It made me laugh and made me tear up a few times. I thought the writing was so real sometimes and let's be serious more than one storyline is very real for someone somewhere! I'm guessing some people might think it made fun, or made lighten of mental illness. I still haven't read any reviews so just a guess as to the rating. I didn't see it that way at all. It wouldn't surprise me at all if the writer/director knows mental Illness first hand, this just had some very real elements as far as bi polar goes. All that aside, if it was all 100% fictional it was still good! Smart funny writing and very well cast. I haven't seen or heard of this girl in anything else but I'll be looking into that. I liked her and I liked this movie.

As someone with bipolar disorder, I was shocked to see how negatively Clemence was portrayed in this movie. She appeared violent, irrational and dangerous. These are stereotypes of people with serious mental illnesses that need to stop. There are certainly highs and lows that can be unsafe, but they are not the full story. They touched on the struggles one has when trying to find the right medication mix. But there is a lot more to that story than they told. Getting stable is a horrific process and humiliating at times and very scary. This is the true story of the struggle and the courage of people with mental illness. Not that of people around them who judge and don't understand. And the preposterous promise that exercise and meditation can solve a mental disorder is total BS. It does not and never has been a solution.

The lead is so incredible (well the whole cast is honestly) but so realistic, this is very much like real life, and I was really blown away and how true it all felt. It can be a bit heavy of course, it's not a light hearted comedy, but it has a lot of humor in it for sure. For anyone who has gone through hell in college, struggled with mental illness or just the pain of life and family (so all of us) this really feels on point. The lead is so good in this, I never saw an actor acting for even a minute, I felt like this is a real life person going through it the entire time I was watching this movie.

A quirky tale about a girl with mental ilness, living at home with her family, basically going through the motions of dealing with all the highs and lows of everyday life.

The good: I love movies about misfits, people who dont belong, are out of place. This is such a story, and it starts out promising, because there is nothing more amusing to watch then someone behaving inappropiately ALL the time.

The bad: however, I was expecting a bit more drama and quite a bit more serious character development. Now the main character is stuck in a quirky stereotype.

Definitely not a bad movie, but somehow finally lacking in true drama.

The trailer did just enough to make this seem interesting. On top of being borderline bipolar myself, theTribeca laurel and Steve Buscemi sold it. Sadly this (The Family Stone Sans Christmas) missed the mark. The problem with these biopics is the writer often thinks no one else could possibly play the lead and they destroy the thing they worked so hard to build. A great lesson to young film makers out there, don't cast yourself if you're also going to direct it. The directing was also flawed, same old boring choices and settling for shocking blocking rather than getting actually creative with shots.

The dialogue however wasn't bad at all and at times there were a few laughs. I hope the writer will learn to hand off their next project to an actual director on the next outing.