Susan Granger’s review of “Touched With Fire” (Roadside Attractions)
Inspired by his own struggle with bipolar disorder, writer/director/editor/musician Paul Dalio has created this sensitive story of two mental hospital patients, manic/depressive New York poets, whose art is fueled by their emotional extremes.
Carla (Katie Holmes) is a published poet. When she first meets slam rapper Marco (Luke Kirby), who calls himself “Luna,” she derides his artistic pretentions. He worships Vincent Van Gogh’s “The Starry Night” as an expression of the painter’s mania and quotes Lord Byron’s words, “We of the craft are all crazy.”
In group sessions, Carla challenges his assertion that a bipolar disorder has influenced the creativity of many artistic geniuses. Yet at 3 a.m., these insomniacs meet in a deserted art studio and talk about escaping to the distant planet they’ve come to believe is their real home and parenting a yet-to-be-born miracle child. It’s their delusionary fantasy.
When the medical staff realizes what’s happening, they’re separated – and, when they reunite, their respective caring, concerned parents (Christine Lahti, Bruce Altman and Griffin Dunne) try – in vain – to keep them apart.
When they finally move in together, Carla and Marco re-create Van Gogh’s masterpiece on the walls of their apartment.
Referring to psychologist Kay Redfield Jamison’s scholarly study, “Touched With Fire: Manic-Depressive Illness and the Artistic Temperament” (1993) and fueled by his own experiences, NYU film school graduate Paul Dalio has Carla and Marco visit Ms. Jamison, who reassures them that taking lithium hasn’t diminished her creativity.
While Luke Kirby and Katie Holmes slip seamlessly into their characterizations with conviction, their believability is diminished by sheer improbability in the third act. And one regrets Dalio’s total lack of humor in depicting their bizarre emotional dilemma.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Touched With Fire” is an episodic, empathetic 6, exploring sanity and creativity, culminating in a rolling scroll, naming many artists afflicted with bipolar disorder.
