Movie Review: Mental

I always wanted to be a film critic growing up. I even had a small section in the school newspaper where I would write movie reviews. I don't know if anyone ever read them, but I enjoyed writing them. When I went to college I studied film with a focus on film editing. Although I enjoyed it, I know now that film editing, i.e. sitting in a little room all day with no one else around, doesn't really fit my personality.

Through the years I have come to understand myself better. I have grown to love writing, baking and photography, amongst other things, but I have never stopped loving movies! I will always love to watch new movies, and sometimes the same ones over and over. 

So, these posts may not interest many people, but I will write them anyways because they interest me. My intention is to write about movies that people may not have heard of before. Not just movies that you would expect to hear about. You can check out the other movies that I have written about here.

The newest movie interest for me is an Australian film called "Mental." It's from the director of another offbeat film that I loved growing up called "Muriel's Wedding." As soon as I started watching it I could see the similarities and immediately looked on IMDB to find that they had the same writer/director. 

It's about a family with five young girls, the mother goes "mental," as the title suggests, because the father is never around and she feels like an embarrassment to her family for various reasons. She desperately wants her family to be like the Von Trapps from "The Sound of Music," but they seem a far cry from it. For this reason the film is beautifully sprinkled with music from "The Sound of Music." 

As a result of this mental breakdown, the girls' father, who isn't really a father at all, goes out and finds Shaz (Toni Collette) on the side of the road and hires her to take care of his girls. The unconventional Maria figure changes the family in an unexpected way. Throughout the film you come to realize that the title of the film was not meant for the mother of the girls, but rather with the idea in mind that the people all around this endearing family of wild girls, the ones who all think they are normal, are in fact, themselves, the mental ones. 

In my opinion, although crude at times, and rough around the edges, this is quite a heartwarming and lovable film. The character development and transformation is fantastic. There are moments that make you want to rage against some of the 'normal' people in the movie for their villainous acts and moments of triumph that have you cheering for the underdogs who are featured in this film. 

I would recommend it to people who are looking for a lighthearted film with a great amount of depth and character. It's one of those that I could watch over and over, and I just might...