When an acclaimed music producer goes off his medication for schizophrenia, his friends chase him though the LA music scene to help commit him to a psychiatric hospital, revealing the troubling inadequacies of our mental health care system.
A gathering of old friends around the piano at Rachel’s (Rebecca Hazelwood) house proves to be a breeding ground for music producer Theo Ross (Simon Pegg) and singer/songwriter Hannah’s (Juno Temple) internal rhythm. When Theo coaxes Hannah to come to the piano and sing, he realizes there is something deep in her voice that is longing to come to the surface. A few days later, he calls her up and recruits her to leave her job of answering phones and come to his studio to make music. When the two get together, Theo makes her an honorary member of “The Society,” which he says is a secret superficial club he belongs to. As he attempts to learn more about Hannah, he discovers she has been taking medicine for her psychological disorders for years, after she tried to kill herself. He encourages her to entertain the thought of not taking her pills to remove what he calls a filter over her life. As he gives her creative input, he sets up a relaxing environment in order to encourage her to give herself permission to make the music she is truly capable of. After several sessions, Theo produces an album for her and refers her to a popular local artist Dana Lee (Alexandra Daddario) who hires her because she feels that her approach to songwriting is indicative of her own life’s story.
Once Hannah gets deeply engrossed into her new music, she and Theo temporarily lose touch and when she finally tracks him down she finds him aloof, confused, combative and being kicked out of his apartment. Through their shared circle of friends, she learns that Theo is a paranoid schizophrenic who has stopped taking his medicine and when she tries to get him reconnected to his family in London where he can be cared for, he tells her he can never go back to them because it would make a ripple in time and he could never leave his wife, a woman he refers to often as Princess Time or Wendi (Tao Okamoto). After several bouts with Theo’s schizophrenia, his refusal to take his medicine and his insistence that the frequency in the radio waves are speaking to him through static, Hannah stages an intervention and eventually Theo is forced to go into a mental facility. When Hannah tries to visit him, he is released to her because the facility cannot hold him against his will.
Hannah’s inability to separate herself from Theo’s self-destruction causes her to lose her job and in the midst of the madness, she starts slipping into her own mental oblivion of schizophrenia and at the same time, she is so engrossed in getting to the root of Theo’s illness that she risks everything to save him and to understand her own mental frailty. After delving into Theo’s history, she finds that Princess Time is indeed a real person and she enlists her help to get Theo back to London where he can be with his family and get the help that he needs in a facility that can hold him according to his most recent diagnosis. When Theo once again breaks out of the system, she finds him in the midst of a mushroom party and realizes that she can’t defeat him so she joins in and relishes in the freedom of choices that Theo has so viciously fought for.
This film, based on a true story, delves deeply into cycles that show, through kaleidoscopic windows, the cause and effects of mental illness and the artistic nature of humanity. It entertains paranoia and schizophrenia while demonstrating the beauty of holding onto ideas and encouraging others to be true to themselves regardless of their plight. It also shows how compassion and understanding can be enabling to those who, at times, need to be shown tough love in various stages of the healing process. Director Katharine O’Brien did an excellent job of having the storyline come together in bits and pieces just like the fragmented minds of its characters. This amazing story of will vs. might provides an eye-opening experience for those who straddle the line on a regular basis.
Now available on Digital and On-Demand
