Prozac Nation (2001) - Ricci and Lange are stellar in wrongfully discarded depression drama

♥♥♥♥♥

 

 

Star Christina Ricci lying naked in white sheets make up this poster for Erik Skjoldbjærg's Prozac Nation

The true story of Elizabeth Wurtzel, a young American woman from a torn home, who goes to Harvard to study, which escalates her emotional chaos.

Prozac Nation is written by Frank Deasy (Captives (1994)), Larry Gross (Gunshy (1998)) and co-writer/co-producer Galt Niederhoffer (10 Things We Should Do Before We Break Up (2020)), adapting Elizabeth Wurtzel's (Bitch (1998)) same-titled 1994 memoir, and directed by great Norwegian filmmaker Erik Skjoldbjærg (Insomnia (1997)).

It is an impressively well-written adaptation of the bestselling story of Wurtzel's personal battle with depression and pill addiction, among other things. It lives and breathes due especially to the strong performances of Christina Ricci (Miranda (2002)) and Jessica Lange (Tootsie (1982)) as Wurtzel and her mother, respectively, but also Michelle Williams (Certain Women (2016)) and Jason Biggs (American Pie (1999)) are good in it.

A series of visual finesses are utilized neatly in this very realistic and painful tour of what family-driven depression can look like. Not a light dish or one that will appeal broadly but a great drama nonetheless.

 

Watch a trailer for the film here

 

Cost: 9 mil. $

Box office: 129k $ (Norway alone)

= Box office disaster (returned 0.02 times its cost)

[Prozac Nation premiered 8 September (Toronto International Film Festival) and runs 95 minutes. Ricci was paid 1 mil. $ for her performance. Shooting took place from May - July 2000 in Vancouver, British Columbia, and in Massachusetts, including in Boston. The film was acquired by Miramax for release following its Toronto premiere, but the company soured at it in the months and years to follow and only released the film in North America in 2005 on the Starz network. The film did have a theatrical release in a handful of other minor markets, including Skjoldbjærg's native Norway, where it made its likely biggest earning, 129k $. A projected total gross of 200k $ would mean that the film returned 0.02 times its cost theatrically. Skjoldbjærg returned with Skolen (2004, TV-series) and theatrically with En Folkefiende (2005). Ricci returned in The Laramie Project (2002, TV movie) and theatrically in Pumpkin (2002); Lange in Normal (2003, TV movie) and theatrically in Masked and Anonymous (2003). Prozac Nation is rotten at 28 % with a 4.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Prozac Nation?

Anomalisa (2015) or, Depressed Adult Male

♥♥♥

Lead character Michael Stone looks himself in the mirror dejectedly on this poster for Duke Johnson and Charlie Kaufman's Anomalisa

Our protagonist Michael is a guru for the service industry and comes to Cincinnati to give a lecture but finds himself in a mentally disturbed state.

Anomalisa is an existential romance-drama written by Charlie Kaufman (Synecdoche, New York (2008)), based on his same-titled 2005 play, and co-directed by Kaufman and Duke Johnson (Mary Shelley's Frankenhole (2010-12)). It is made in fascinating, almost masochistically time-consuming stop-motion animation, which is carried out in very detailed and vivid fashion.
The story of Anomalisa is relentlessly downbeat; the theme of alienation dominates everything; the lighting, Michael's sudden infatuation with Lisa, a woman he meets in the hotel, and the day after. It takes place in a dispiriting tone of near futility in any kind of human relation, which is the feeling that encapsulates the overall very melancholic Anomalisa. It doesn't indicate that Kaufman has gotten any better, or lighter, mentally speaking.
Ultimately a question of temperament, taste and tolerance will decide whether you'll love Anomalisa to death or mostly shrug it off like a miserable cold, as was the way I more or less felt about it.

Related posts:

Charlie Kaufman: 2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]

2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2015 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
Adaptation (2002) or, Charlie Kaufman's Fictional Life (writer)
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (2002) or, The Gong Show Killer (writer)
Being John Malkovich (1999) - Jonze, Kaufman and Malkovich's great triumph (writer)

Watch a trailer for the film here

Cost: 8 mil. $
Box office: 5.6 mil. $
= Huge flop
[Anomalisa premiered 4 September (Telluride Film Festival, USA) and runs 90 minutes. In the play, David Thewlis, Jennifer Jason Leigh and Tom Noonan also played the parts and sat on different parts of the stage and didn't move, only interacting through dialog. The film version should be identical, only different in terms of its media and that the action actually takes place. The film started as a short film that got off as a Kickstarter campaign that gathered 400k $, enabling funding for it as a feature to come together. The puppets were created with a 3D printer, and production lasted for two years. Paramount bought the worldwide distribution rights after the film's Toronto screening. It opened #34 in 4 theaters to a 135k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked #18 in 573 theaters and grossed 3.7 mil. $ (66.1 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 321k $ (5.7 %) and France with 167k $ (3 %). The film was nominated for the Best Animation Oscar as the first R-rated animation to ever achieve this, but lost to masterpiece Inside Out. It was also nominated for a Golden Globe, 4 Independent Spirit Awards, and was the first animation to win the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice International Film Festival. Anomalisa is certified fresh at 92 % with a 8.4/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Anomalisa?