Synopsis
Life is not bad when I'm not feeling sad.
Based on Elizabeth Swados’ picture book of the same name, this animated short film charts one woman's struggle with depression.
My Depression (The Up and Down and Up of It)
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Alternative Titles
My Depression, Mi Depresión
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Releases by Date
Premiere
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USA
Tribeca Film Festival
TV
13 Jul 2015
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USA
Releases by Country
USA
17 Apr 2014
- Premiere Tribeca Film Festival
13 Jul 2015
- TV HBO
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This animated short film is at once immensely superficial and dishearteningly charming.
Elizabeth Swados describes her personal experience of depression through a sequence of vignettes and songs that present it as a cloud (original metaphor?) and a black hole or a devouring spiral (another original metaphor?).
She never mentions, not once, that depression is not just a chemical imbalance or hereditary curse, but also, and often primarily, the result of past devastating experiences buried in the unconscious. In her cute visual autobiography, depression 'happens' out of the blue for no specific reason. This is misleading and even hurtful.
The symptoms she describes are accurate (inability to function, loss of memory, social withdrawal, lack of self-esteem) but their causes are never really addressed.
Steve Buscemi singing "The Suicide Mobile" is a hoot.
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Imagine being a psychology major and being depressed
Bruh
JUST GO LOOK AT YOUR NOTES -
This is something you're forced to watch in high school and u end up laughing about for the rest of the day with your friends. Unironically very obsessed with Steve Buscemi
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I can tell that this was made with good intentions but it barely scratches the surface when it comes to discussing depression.
It seemed like it tried to play it safe making the story feel a little vague and insincere. Also some of the songs were a little cringey, felt as if a child wrote them.
The animation is nice though. -
It doesn't offer anything new to the depression scene.
As Liz says, every person experiences depression differently.
I wonder how the reception from the depressed people will be.Watched this for Steve Buscemi. I recognize that he voices the manager in the courtroom and the 'suicide mobile' driver ofc.
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this is like school house rock for adults about serious topics and with sigourney weaver
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maybe it's the prozac but this was so funny
i wish steve buscemi was the voice of my suicidal thoughts too -
i understand the intention here, but promoting medicine as the only cure is kinda dangerous and not very hopeful for someone like me, who does not want to be medicated, so like. idk. happy this worked for a lot of people though
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Really mixed on this. Obviously depression is different with everyone( including mine and as the narrator continuously said) but I think walking away from this felt jarring. Saw a few reviews discussing how they enjoyed it, but I personally felt like it missed its mark. I felt connected 10 minutes in until it felt like an advertisement. Cute animation style though.
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this is somewhere in between the poems i wrote when i was fourteen about being suicidal and a story written by someone who has never once experienced a suicidal thought. which is sad, because the person who wrote this somehow deligitamized their own experience by falling into cliches and marketability
it would be cool if steve buscemi sang my suicidal thoughts to me tho
i don't know why i watched this
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