Director: Alex Ross Perry
Year Released: 2015
Rating: 0.5
Catherine (Elisabeth Moss), the daughter of a late artist, goes to stay with her 'friend' Virginia (Katherine Waterston) where she undergoes what is supposed to be a mental breakdown. A fifth-rate version of Bergman's masterful Persona, the camera is shoved in Moss' face as she twitches and cries and engages in bizarre behavior (like pretending to talk to another person on the phone) and the few other characters in this, including Waterston and her boyfriend (Patrick Fugit), mock and taunt her (or make cutting remarks about her father). Weak as an examination of 'friendship,' since it's never clear why these two ladies would be friends with each other in the first place (more context would have been nice), and vapid when it comes to the nature of true depression: it's a game of 'beat up on the lead character' who, though flawed, probably needs serious counseling (and genuine support). The editing, which juxtaposes a previous vacation with the present one, does more to obfuscate than illuminate.
