Lost Transmissions

Hats off to Katharine for her directorial debut. She did a great job portraying someone with mental illness. The truth is heart breaking and painful to watch. It's moving and upsetting. Great film to raise awareness about mental illness, something that should become a casual topic yet there still is stigma about it. It was nice to see Simon Pegg in a modest and serious role. He was authentic and accurate. Juno Temple was captivating. Her vulnerability and internal life are beautiful to watch.

Lost Transmissions is a drama that follow Hannah (portrayed by Juno Temple), a shy songwriter who realizes her friend/producer Theo Ross (portrayed by Simon Pegg) is not taking his medication and suffering from schizophrenia. Along the way, Hannah is also trying to chase her own dreams as she is hired by musician Dana Lee (portrayed by Alexandra Daddario) to help write music for her next album.

The film portrays Simon Pegg is one of his best performances. I have not seen all of his films, but this is by far the best emotional performance I have seen from him.

Unfortunately, the film is very boring. It follows Theo as he goes around LA dealing with episodes of hallucination and having Hannah trying to save him. I found myself continuously going on my phone or failing to actually stay tuned in because I just was not into the story. So while I thought the film was acted well, I probably wouldn't recommend it - 5/10.

This is such a complicated one. And I guess that is kind of the crux of this movie. It doesn't know what it supposed to be. It is not a movie movie about how the health care system fails mental patients. There are only two scenes about that otherwise it is never mentioned again. Is it not about mental illness either. We see mental illness but it is rather an attempt to show us what it looks like than dealing with it the rational of it. But I won't dare to call it a bad film because Juno Temple and Simon Pegg are absolutely out of this world great. Both in their performances and their chemistry with each other. Temple never ceases to amaze me anyway but I would say this is her best role and it is Peggs best as well. Watch it if you love amazing acting or love Temple and/or Pegg.

....then you will relate to this. Shown from the point of view of a woman watching her friend spiral down the cycle of schizophrenia. Juno Temple does an amazing job at showing her confusion at first, then the different stages of trying to get him the help he needs, and sometimes wanting to give up.

Simon Pegg really stands out in this movie, he captures the art of portraying the thoughts that inevitably lead a schizophrenic to going off their meds (anosognosia), the charm they display to make you think it's alright (they can be so damned convincing) and then the absolute random outbursts of hate, violence and/or rambling.

It isn't the most quickpaced movie, but it is a great story. It is hard to fit the entire dimensions of what a relationship with this particular mental illness is like into a movie, but it is definitely a glimpse. And they only touched on it a little, but it is enough to show that there are severe problems in the mental health department in the US. Anyone with a sense of empathy will take something away from this movie.

It is worth noting that the timeline of this can be hard to follow. And it might seem like he is 'suddenly crazy', where in actuality a fair amount of time has passed.

I am however, disappointed that they felt the need to put Alexandra Daddario so much in the forefront. Don't get me wrong, I like her and she did a good job. But her character was not that important. Certainly not enough to put her on the cover. And the confusion of their choice to push her as such a main character in advertising, was distracting.

Summary; A hard story to tell but it is done well by all actors involved. If you like that sort of thing, give it a watch!

If you know anything about depression or psychosis you'll "get" this. Yes it's not subtle, or heartwarming or a redemption story but that's what makes it feel less Hollywood and more real. Pegg gives a great performance and Juno does well with less showy material. Well worth a viewing 7/10