Madeline's Madeline

I had no idea what to expect from this, but it turned out to be such a visceral, well-done atmospheric and experimental film.

'MADELINE'S MADELINE': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

An experimental indie drama about a teenage girl with severe mental issues, who begins bringing her personal drama into her theater performance. It was directed and co-written by Josephine Decker, and it stars newcomer Helena Howard. The film also costars Molly Parker and Miranda July, and it's gotten mostly positive reviews from critics. I really enjoyed it's bizarreness, and it's sensitive depiction of mental illness, but it's also really slow-paced and somewhat hard to follow (because it's so strange). The performances are all more than decent though, and the directing is more than adequate as well.

We were able to get this movie on DVD from our public library. My wife chose to skip it, not her kind of movie.

Watching it I didn't expect to "enjoy" it. In fact there is nothing enjoyable about it. However there is something compelling about it, maybe in the same way that we can be fascinated watching a train wreck. I couldn't stop watching it.

Don't take my comment wrong, I believe the filmmaker made exactly the movie she wanted to make. But she is of the experimental camp, a quote from her is "The beautiful thing about making art is the enormous possibility of failure." In other words make a movie you want and don't worry whether anyone will actually like it. Woody Allen is also that way but to me Allen makes much better movies.

Nothing seemed authentic to me and maybe that is the point. While I can give it reasonably high marks for the quality of what was produced, the movie, I cannot consider it a good movie. I watch movies mainly for a good story and and characters that I like. This one doesn't have either. It is more like watching a train wreck and marveling at the debris.

It's one of those disturbing movies that makes you question if you're ever gonna finish it. The visuals, the sounds, the characters, almost nothing is easy on the eyes or ears...It's about a teenager with mental illness joining a theater class, her disturbing relationship with her mother, and her disturbing relationship with her theater teacher, and the disturbing dynamics involving the whole theater troupe. You can try to appreciate it as you go but it's not an easy watch. It might get more enjoyable if you achieve the first watch and then try for a second one focusing on its handling of mental illness and relationships while giving the crazy, incomprehensible scenes your own meaning. You know, like an ugly vase you finally begin to see the beauty of.

I watched the whole film, but I have absolutely no idea what it was about. It is intolerable, indecipherable and incoherent. There's no plot. Avoid at all cost.