This documentary is an important contribution about a behavior often hard to understand, and even more difficult for people to speak about. Through the use of interviews, Kyle Mahaney humanizes the subject and helps the viewer to develop an understanding of why people engage in non-suicidal self-injurious behaviors. Only when we can start to talk about the unspeakable can we move forward in reducing the stigma and shame associated with mental health disorders; Kyle has helped us to initiate a conversation about these important issues.
Although the film was presented as an unfinished work in progress, one could easily see the impressive cinematic skill and documentarian approach of those involved in the work. The issue of adolescent depression which often includes suicidal tendencies is presented in a series of personal stories that brings the very human emotions relating to the issue to the fore. (…) The filmmaker’s sense of cinematic language unveils the captivating effect of each person’s tale through the art of editing which sets a comfortable pace for the audience to follow and therefore maintains their unlabored attention.
The stigma of mental illness is still common; and even though signals such as self-harm, anorexia, and isolation may be present, they are often ignored or downplayed by parents and counselors. That is the subject of this informative and vitally important documentary…utilizing a series of interviews with a variety of recovering depressed people and involved care-givers. They are all well-spoken and impart with their personal stories some hard earned lessons for an intended audience of young people suffering and needing a helping hand. (…) This is an instructive documentary that succeeds in being a helpful one for those young people (and their parents) who need desperately to watch it.
