Parachute

Brittany Snow's directorial debut film, Parachute, is an emotional film about what it is like when your mind isn't right. The film follows Riley, a young woman who just got out of rehab for an eating disorder. While in recovery, Riley meets Ethan, and the two hit it off. Although she isn't supposed to date, the two quickly fall into a complicated relationship, on again off again, will they won't they type realtionshp. It is not messily a unique formula. However, what separates Parachute from other films is how it deals with a person struggling with mental health. While romance is certainly a part of the movie, it really is a film about going through a mental health crisis. I won't give anything away because I feel this is a film that it is better to go into blind. However, I will say that it is interesting that this film starts with Riley getting out of rehab and that it really is just the start of her mental journey and healing. Now, I have to say, as a Brittany Snow fan, it's impossible to watch this movie and not see her story in Riley. Brittany Snow is by far my favorite actor (and now my favorite director). However, her story about how she overcame her eating disorder and her work with mental health is what has made her a hero to me. Knowing she went through what Riley did in real life makes the film more authentic. Riley even wears a ladybug bracelet on her right wrist, like how Brittany has a ladybug tattoo on that same wrist. It also feels like a movie Brittany would make, from its themes of mental health to how it uses photos to tell the passage of time. It all feels very Brittany Snow. From a technical standpoint, the acting is all great. Courtney Eaton and Thomas Mann have great chemistry, and it made me appreciate them more as actors. The sounding cast is great, too, with amazing actors, such as Gina Rodriguez, Joel McHale, Dave Bautista, and Kid Cudi (all of whom are friends with Brittany). Also, it warmed my heart to see two of the Bellas from Pitch Perfect, Kelley Jackle and Chrissie Fit, in the film. Now, this is not an easy watch, especially if you have had struggles with mental health. I would recommend watching it when you are in a good place, mentally, like you would with a sad dog movie. But it's so good it needs to be seen, and the conversations about what to do when your mind is not working right are so important, especially now in a world with 24/7 social media access. All in all, my biggest takeaway is something Brittany Snow once said. "Maybe the voice inside your mind isn't right,"- Brittany Snow.

The film follows Riley, a young woman fresh out of hospital for an eating disorder who is trying to navigate mental health issues and her own self destructive tendencies to live, and love again, despite herself.

I guess Brittany Snow directed this film as she had experienced similar problems in her life. Perhaps it was cathartic to portray what young girls can go through, perhaps she just wanted to get the message out to people to raise awareness of how life can be for some people, and how hard it is to keep an even mental keel, when the world seems to be teetering under your very feet.

The irritating thing is you can feel and appear to be fine and on top of the world. Then there's a trigger and suddenly your brain convinces you to think that you're unworthy, life is unworthy, everyone around you is better than you, you have no meaning or value, and yet deep down you know you do, and the dichotic maelstrom of emotion can tear you apart.

It seems to be becoming more common too with young people, perhaps brought on by TV standards, and then film standards, and now the internet bringing standards that people...mostly women...feel are impossible to live up to and if they can't then they are unworthy. They can't find how to be happy anymore. And of course no-one knows how best to treat even their close friends when they're like this. It's an epidemic and Snow brings this into focus to show us all what it can be like.

The cast is fabulous, Courtney Eaton slays this role and I believe everything she is going through. The situations, the contradictions, the failed romance, the struggle and then the acceptance. And thankfully it is not ruined by an awful music soundtrack. The score is unobtrusive and sympathetic and sometimes there is no sound at all, and that's very powerful.

I loved this from start to finish and I think it's beautifully and passionately and sympathetically done, so I give it a strong 8.

This has the feel of a bunch of diary entries - too many fleeting moments that are not explained and a bunch of time jumps that leave us guessing.

If they got rid of the goofy and smug therapist played by Gina Rodriguez and Ethan's alcoholic father played by Joel McHale, it may have strengthened the story. Also Celeste Oliva, who played Riley's mother, was so full of disdain and read all her lines without any emotion.

I think Ethan and Riley's situation-ship is worth exploring, but we are pulled away from them too often. It also would have made sense to see how Hunter and Riley's relationship took a turn for the worse. Overall the film has scenes of characters arguing and storming off. Nothing to write home about.

The elements are there but this is a bad lifetime movie. It's made for people who believe that they are the center of the universe. It's not realistic. Let's stop telling young women that this is reality. No dude will ever be worth your life or your health. If he's asking for all that from you dump him. If YOU are asking for all that from you there are therapists everywhere. Value your mind, value the freedom it can offer you, and only let in people who support that man or woman. Stop watching badly written crap like this. Cast was full of good actors, script was toilet paper. Shame on the writer(s). I'm assuming it was a focus group turd.

The movie should come with trigger warnings for body dysmorphia and eating disorders. Although Brittany Snow does a wonderful job of representing them, the theme might be too much to deal with for some people.

Okay, now that put aside, the performances in the movie were so beautiful. This kind of theme was elegantly depicted and to think that it was a directional debut certainly shows so much promise. Despite the erratic pacing and passage of time generally thrown at the audience through exposition, after a momentary whiplash, the scene brings you right back into it. I really loved character development of Riley and Nathan and even the minor characters for that matter. The movie did a wonderful job of showing both, what people suffering from mental illness go through and what people who care for them go through. Kudos.