Silver Linings Playbook (an amazing reality)

   There are a lot of things I want to say about this movie...like how completely amazing it was! It puts a whole new perspective on the reality of mental illness and it showcases the brilliance of it's stars (Bradley Cooper, and Jennifer Lawrence). I love them both so much...but that aside this movie spoke volumes to me considering my mother has several mental disabilities so I know the difficulty of living around these. This movie was able to capture it all not only with the plot, but with the cinematography, the dialogue, and the cast. I guess the biggest achievement would be making an average person comprehend how a person with mental illness operates and sees the world...because believe it or not it's vastly different than the way any other person does...but I digress. This film won 1 Oscar (Jennifer Lawrence, best performance by an actress in a leading role) and rightly so. Over all (across all film awards world-wide) it had 77 nominations and 61 wins. If that doesn't explain how wonderful it is then you should quit reading now. 

This is what happens when you read A Farewell to Arms. Thanks Hemingway.

   The plot of this movie captures an interesting reality of mental illness. Pat (Bradley Cooper) is a man just come out of an eight month court ordered stay in a mental hospital in Baltimore. He was put there for beating his wife's lover near to death after walking in on the two together. He was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and shipped off there. After he gets out he stops taking his medication and truly believes his wife will be with him again if he fixes all the problems she had with him. Enter Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence). Her character is as equally jacked as his. You discover her husband died and to cope she became a bit of a sex addict to cope (which she has dealt with before this movie even begins...kinda). The plot circles around these two and the mental problems they have and how they perceive the world and one another. To me it seems a bit scatter-brained, but it also seems like that's how it's meant to be. It's an organized scattered, much like the mind of someone who is bipolar. And that is what makes it unique.

*An excellent example of outlandish dialogue

   The direction, cinematography, and dialogue blend together to make this movie exciting to watch. The seemingly whimsical way the camera moves at times seems to embody the attitude of the characters and go with their mood swings. Like riding a roller coaster of their emotions, which is exactly what would be happening if you lived with them. The director (David Russell) had to be a genius for making this so well. He knew the struggles of someone with this disorder (his son was bipolar and OCD) and made it a reality on camera. I can't thank him enough for it either. And the dialogue...it was shockingly well done. Some of the things said were outlandish* and a bit crazy, but not the generic shit you usually hear in movies that wish they could be like this. It was the truth of what people like this do...up and down...and then back again. None of these three things would stand without the others because the combination makes the movie what it is...beautifully and brutally honest.

Yes J. Law. I love you.

   My favorite part of this film is the cast. All the characters play off one another beautifully and they actually let this movie change them as people. Robert De Niro (Pat Sr.) actually cried unscripted because of Bradley Cooper's performance. And the way they all fit into their roles, I just can't imagine anyone else being cast in this film. Jennifer Lawrence is a personal favorite of mine though so I guess she has a bit of an advantage...





   To conclude this rather long praise of this film I just have to say watch it. If you know anyone or have a family member with mental illness this movie might make you understand that it's not entirely something they have control of...if you just love movies then you'll enjoy it because it's a good movie. The only audience I wouldn't recommend this for is children under the age of 14 and that's only due to overuse of the word 'fuck' and the sexual references...change that to nobody under the age of 16.