Mad World

If you have a taste for natural light, crying a lot, and excellently genuine (genuinely excellent) screen writing, this is your movie. Though much of the acclaim I've read by online critics is the realism with which mental illness is treated, it heaps some of the most alienating societal abuses of the mentally ill on one person for full effect, short of failure of the justice sytem. Is that realism? Perhaps not, but it has a powerful political/moral point. The result of this is an almost over sweet tearjerker, but I honestly can not decide whether I am amazed that one movie revealed a seemingly unending store of emotion in me, or whether I am disappointed by Chor Hang Chan's reliance on that catharsis. I would go with the former. Outside of borderline cloying revelations, there are some dark and unforgiving moments, and some genuinely humorous ones, acknowledging that redemption is not the only frame for the issue at hand. The performance by Shawn Yue is well in character, drab and passionate at the right moments. And Chun Wong can definitely be relied upon as a director.

And if you watch it for nothing else, the kid is incredibly adorable.

A film that reflects reality. Even though the treatment of mental disorders has improved significantly, they still face their own past and social exclusion. If they can not get out, they will inevitably be forced back to the corner. In the first two-thirds of the movie, the perspective is limited to father and son. When the relationship between father and son improves, the former fiancee suddenly throws the protagonist back to hell, and the neighbor's exclusion brings the tone of the whole movie back to the tragedy of realism. This arrangement undoubtedly highlights the conflict of the drama, but the contrast is too large, which actually harms the plot.

The director is young and new, yet he manages to portray the details of depression and illision to the full in the movie. At his age, he should not have such deep understanding. He must do a lot of resaerch on the topic. The story not just show what is psychiatric illness, but the living condition of HK people, working life of white collars and problem in psychiatry service...... Extremely rich in content, i can hardly get a breath throughout the every moment of the film. The brilliance of the movie is demonstrated when compare to other movie of the same theme. Beautiful mind, It is ok that is Love, kmhm, kdrama. In these stories, the sick male leads are either genius, handsome, meeting good doctors, recover well. No miracle is found in Mad World. It is a realistic movie portraying everyday life of a mental patient. It is not entertaining. You will feel blue after seeing it. So, a brillant movie can just earn a score of 7. And it fail to go into last round of Oscar.

The acting of leads are ok. I have no particular complaint, except the father. Tsang is too experienced an actor. You always aware that he is acting a role. Overacting i would say.

I also feel unfair for the movie to show the government psychiatry as cool and robot like doctor. It is a great discouragement to those doctors truely concern patients.

The scene I remember most is in the christian church gathering. Average men are too ignorant of mental illness patient. They think they are helping, but actually are worsening the illness of patient. Public education on society should be strengthened so that patient could better fit into the society.

The director is a potential star in hk movie industry. Hk people should be proud of him

Whilst perusing Netflix to find an Asian drama, Mad World popped up in my recommendations. Considering mental illness is still rather hush-hush in the east, I didn't have high hopes that Mad World would cover the topic with subtly and honesty. Color me surprised; after spending the last hour and 41 minutes with my eyes glued to the screen, I realized that not only is this one of the best portrayals of mental illness (Bipolar Disorder, specifically) I've ever seen put to film, but Mad World now competes for the best movie I've watched yet this year. How this film isn't more well-known and awarded flabbergasts me.

Mad World follows the broken perspective of Tung, a man suffering from Bipolar Disorder in Hong Kong who is released from a mental institution and forced to integrate once more into society and the shattered life he's left behind. We aren't clued in to all the details of Tung's life and unhappiness right away; we know he's depressed, missing his fiancee, and that he has a strained relationship with the father he comes to live with. Further details are lovingly sprinkled throughout the film in heart-wrenching flashbacks with perfect timing; never was I confused about the order of events or the impact they had on Tung's psyche. I come from a family plagued with mental illness; Bipolar Disorder affected both my mother and brother, and contributed to the far too early demise of my brother just last month. The manic/depressive phases of this horrific illness are both laid out here in all their painful, raw glory; the highs are sky-high, and the lows are in the pits of depressive purgatory. It isn't just Tung who suffers; his mother clearly has mental difficulties as well, and the other brother and father have their own realistic ways of dealing with it.

The performances here are all stellar. Tung's blank stares of utter hopelessness perfectly mimic those I have seen (and given) time and again when dealing with similar illnesses in my own life. Tung's father's helplessness comes through in many scenes, and his well-meaning but misguided attempts to soothe his adult son are all too realistic to what many of us suffering from depression hear: "Why can't you just be normal?" and "Why are you like this?" and "Can't you try to be cheerful?" The judgements of others play a large role here as well: Tung's fiancee accidentally makes a tense situation worse in a pivotal scene, while leering bystanders see mental illness as a spectacle to jeer.

Mad World is not a "fun" movie to watch, nor is it heartfelt in the way that most would hope, with everything being fixed at the end and tied up nicely with a neat little bow. Parts of it angered me. Depressed me. Saddened me. But most of all, as someone who has dealt with this personally, it made me feel like I am not alone. Mad World does not sugarcoat the ugly parts of mental illness, whether they are born out of the ill or those who try to support them. It is for this reason that I found it an absolute and ironic breath of fresh air, for it is depressingly beautiful in its candor.

Some last minute thoughts: the camerawork was particularly interesting here, aiding the film's dreary atmosphere. For one example, it utilized long shots of the small apartment to make you confront its claustrophobic and cramped nature. The music was perfect: it fit the mood and was used sparingly. The movie felt a bit longer than its runtime, but since every minute was engrossing, I can't fault it for that. Lastly, the characters don't grow much--if at all--during the movie. While this normally would be a flaw, it makes sense for a film about mental illness. Sometimes those affected cannot strive for higher goals--sometimes they just need to learn how to *deal* to make it through the day and get to tomorrow alive. Mad World isn't a film about a man's journey to overcome his mental illness; it's more of a day-in-the-life, where we experience what he goes through for a short time and can only hope for the best for him by the time the credits roll.

Mad World is a beautiful film that I recommend to anyone with mental illness, who knows someone with mental illness, or is open-minded enough to try to understand what living with it is like. Make sure you're in the mood to watch it, however, as it's so effective at what it does it might make you feel worse.

Wonderful Honcongo, who would represent the country at the Oscar if selected, introspective, intense, melancholy, sad, it hurts to see the father trying to save his son (although I'm sure he was the one most responsible for the youngest having abandoned them, and having overloaded the firstborn, parental abandonment, this causes deep degradations in the personality in the long run) Tung's pain, trying to get out of the emotional abyss, prejudice, hope in children, beautiful, sad and passionate...