A young man starts to hallucinate and worry about his own sanity as he delves into past traumas and realizes sad truth about his family.
Written and directed by Addison Heimann, Hypochondriac takes mental illness head on and makes it a part of the film that hits the right notes throughout. This is how you create fully-fleshed characters with their hopes, their dreams, and their issues. The film does use a few items that are more fantasy than reality, but when it comes to mental illness, things can feel like fantasy or a living nightmare at times, so this approach works great. The way this is done here along with how the characters and their issues are developed are respectful while being a bit in your face. The emotions in this film are powerful, they run high, and they are constantly there, bringing the viewer along with the lead in their head, their heart, their fears, and everything else they are going through. This is a film that uses the dark side of fantasy to great effect.
The cast here is a fairly small one, keeping most of the film revolving around lead Will played by Zach Villa who is mesmerizing here. The work put to screen by Villa is exactly what this film needed, it’s powerful and vulnerable all at once, it’s the kind of performance that shows an understanding of the material and a care for those it represents. This is Villa’s film and this is the kind of performances that people will remember. Playing Luke, the boyfriend is Devon Graye who gets a bit less screentime, but has a big impact in showing how someone’s mental state can affect those around them. Graye gives subtle nuances to Luke and make this a character that his complete while being completely supportive. The rest of cast also is excellent with performances that are overall really good, either over the top a bit or subdued depending on what the part calls for. This is one strong cast and together they really help the story have an impact.
The cinematography here is important in that some sequences are more deliberately open and other more deliberately claustrophobic. The work by Dustin Supencheck clearly shows an understanding of the material at hand and how to bring it to the screen. This film looks great, but at the same time the images kind of stay back, a bit behind the story in a way, to give the characters all the room they need to tell their stories, show their emotions, and grab the viewer. The cinematography here is done in a very calculated manner to let the content speak for itself.
Hypochondriac is a strong film about mental illness as seen through the eyes of one person mainly, but also in how it can affect those around them. The way this is all brought together shows care for the material and for the subject at hand. The film does have some fantasy elements, nightmarish mostly, but as it deals with one person’s mental state, it becomes part and parcel of everything and makes sense even when it doesn’t fully make sense to the viewer. This is one strong film about issues that are often kept in the background for films.