Unicorns [Video]

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By Omeleto

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Elise has battled depression all her life, and has recently hit rock bottom again. In the midst of her private battle, her mentor and friend Marlon suggests she connect with Jonah, a teenager battling severe depression of his own.

Cynical and wary, Elise thinks that nothing she says will make a difference. Her initial conversation with Jonah is forced and uncomfortable on both sides. But as they talk, it turns into a genuinely authentic connection — and they may turn out to be the sign the other was looking for.

Directed by Candice Carella and written by Leah McKendrick, this heartfelt short drama is not just about depression, suicide and the most difficult experiences of human emotion. It’s also about how we talk about difficult feelings and states of being, and how we talk to people going through these things — focusing more on what to say instead of giving them the space to be open about what they’re experiencing.

One of Elise’s dilemmas is not knowing what to say to Jonah. She doesn’t believe she can say what she calls “the thing”: those magical words that will lift Jonah out of hopelessness and pull him back from the brink.

Yet for a film about not knowing what to say, the writing is solidly character-driven, with a searching, sometimes searing honesty, fearlessness about delving into darker emotions and a thread of mordant humor that adds sarcastic levity to the difficult subject matter. There’s also a similar pared-down simplicity to the visuals, letting the dialogue and performances power the momentum.

Actor Hilary Curwen — who also produced the film alongside Caity Ware — anchors the story as Elise, combining gallows humor with intelligence, empathy and a wry, almost grizzled air of experience. She and fellow actor Markees Christmas as Jonah develop a wary rapport, and their conversational parrying and feints also capture the layers of defensiveness and shame that must be peeled back to talk honestly about what they’re going through and experiencing. But when Elise jumps into this conversational space and says something almost harsh, she drives Jonah away — and then fears the worst will happen.

Spiky, honest and ultimately heartwarming, “Unicorns” is unafraid of being earnest, open, and truthful about the massive black hole that is mental illness, particularly depression. It’s unafraid of finding dark humor in this terrain, and of wearing its heart on its sleeve. In the end, Jonah and Elise aren’t “cured,” as Elise so acidly puts it — but they also aren’t alone. They can talk honestly with one another, and perhaps more importantly, feel listened to and heard. They have found a space with one another where they don’t have to pretend, which provides some degree of relief, understanding and connection in a world that tiptoes around the darkness that they feel within.

 

Transcript provided by YouTube:

00:10
[Music]
00:14
foreign
00:28
uh
00:33
oh [ __ ]
00:44
marlin oh
00:47
[ __ ] i’m sorry you forgot
00:51
i was i was cleaning
00:56
don’t worry about it do you wanna you
00:58
wanna come in for some coffee
01:01
yeah sure
01:09
how you been good good yeah
01:20
yeah i haven’t seen you at any of the
01:24
meetings in a while
01:25
i you know i just been busy yeah yeah
01:28
doing what
01:28
you know just
01:34
meditating mostly it’s good
01:38
yeah i mean how’s that working
01:41
it’s i mean great i feel centered as
01:44
[ __ ]
01:48
so you’ve been painting
01:51
uh yeah it’s you know that dichotomy of
01:54
earth and wind
01:55
seen in some chinese cosmology how are
01:57
you
01:59
ah you know you know just holding on
02:02
hanging on
02:03
world has fallen apart i don’t know if
02:05
you’ve heard but
02:06
happy wife happy life right um
02:10
that’s some [ __ ] ann would say
02:12
[Music]
02:17
you know we’re thinking about adopting
02:21
wow no [ __ ] that’s great and
02:24
you’d be really epic parents i hope so
02:28
hope so
02:31
i mean the kid will get incinerated by
02:33
global warming but hey their childhood
02:34
will be legit right
02:38
listen i also came over because i wanted
02:40
to talk to you about um
02:42
a young man he’s a tough one
02:48
kind of reminds me of you uh
02:52
okay all right you know i can’t just
02:54
hear you i’m not
02:55
qualified man i’m not a life coach but
02:58
you are
02:58
a survivor
03:05
god i think that he might you know
03:08
listen to you more than he’d listen to
03:09
me that’s all
03:16
okay
03:19
jonah
03:22
this is elise elise jonah
03:26
ah one second
03:32
i need to grab this uh uh so why don’t
03:35
watch you guys start chat and i’ll be
03:37
right back okay
03:38
hey yes
03:55
slit your wrist huh
04:00
you know everybody [ __ ] that up right
04:06
they’ll be coming out with a suicide
04:07
book for dummies anyway
04:16
how’d you do it which time
04:24
pills mostly i tried to hang myself
04:27
broke a chair
04:28
so you’re not that good at it either
04:31
look who’s talking
04:33
how old are you 17.
04:37
[ __ ] how old are you
04:40
you can’t ask me that i’m not
04:44
because i’m insecure about that [ __ ]
04:48
why cause you can’t have babies the [ __ ]
04:51
i could get knocked up tonight if i
04:52
wanted to
04:55
i was just trying to figure out how long
04:57
i got before i’m as miserable as you
04:59
not long i should just jump out that
05:01
window right now huh
05:04
be my guest you just break your legs and
05:06
i’d laugh
05:09
they blame you um they wouldn’t blame me
05:13
you’re the sick one i’m cured
05:26
all right all right
05:30
how would you do it now
05:37
uh hmm kind of like those kids that jump
05:40
off the
05:41
freeway overpass with the 101
05:45
or would you do it somewhere i like
05:49
i guess
05:52
maybe um i like chinatown
05:56
because little maine love low man
06:06
so can i go now 22 more minutes
06:12
i don’t want to be here any more than
06:14
you do it’s just a favor to marlon
06:17
i’m not a therapist or a life coach or
06:21
whatever you’re not
06:25
let’s just sit here and pretend i tried
06:27
to say the thing
06:29
the thing the thing you know the magic
06:32
words that’ll suddenly get used to start
06:34
singing kumbaya
06:36
and say [ __ ] like jesus is my homeboy
06:38
nobody say that [ __ ] jesus freaks say
06:40
that
06:44
oh you’re a jesus freak
06:51
uh it was weird though
06:54
i was like if i’m not supposed to be
06:57
doing this
06:59
show me something
07:02
you know what i’m talking about just
07:04
like a sign or something
07:08
then let me guess a white unicorn
07:10
appeared
07:11
no radio silence
07:18
not even a car horn
07:24
well i mean those signs aren’t a thing
07:27
that’s just what people say so they can
07:29
go on oprah
07:31
so you’ve never had a song if there is a
07:35
god he doesn’t give a [ __ ] what i do
07:38
maybe the sign was that it ain’t never
07:40
worked
07:43
wow i didn’t know i signed up for a tony
07:46
[ __ ] robin seminar
07:47
[ __ ] what’s so bad about your life
07:50
nothing
07:51
is bad about my life the worst thing
07:54
that’s happened to me
07:55
objectively is my dad slapping me once
07:58
and i deserved it i’ve lived the most
08:02
annoying white privileged life and it
08:04
makes me want to throw up just hearing
08:06
myself complain
08:08
so you’ve never been happy the [ __ ] is
08:10
happy
08:12
please enlighten me
08:16
it’s this picture of me
08:20
i was like
08:23
i was like four and i was at some
08:26
fountain
08:27
at some park i don’t know where it’s at
08:31
but uh i was in the fountain and i was
08:34
just playing splashing around with the
08:35
water
08:37
and like you could see it you can see it
08:39
on the picture like i’m just so happy
08:42
smiling no worries you know just being a
08:45
kid
08:47
that’s the last time you were happy
08:52
i guess so
08:56
well you peaked it’s
08:59
never gonna be that good again
09:05
look i don’t see why i got to sit here
09:07
and talk to you because you’re 17
09:09
and you killed yourself and now you’re
09:11
in hell that’s about the only thing you
09:13
said all day that makes sense
09:16
i hate kids and i hate cougars
09:19
the [ __ ] did you just say you heard me i
09:22
ain’t stutter oh
09:24
kid thinks he’s tough because he’s black
09:26
and wearing a hoodie
09:28
news flash kid you slit your wrists like
09:31
a sorority girl wanting her daddy to
09:32
love her
09:34
you ain’t [ __ ]
09:48
hey
09:56
what happened
09:59
i told you i’m not a
10:02
all shrink
10:13
[Music]
10:26
[Music]
10:44
wow
10:55
shut up
11:04
at least it’s marlin listen um jonah
11:07
never came home last night
11:09
his mom is beside herself
11:12
did he say anything to you in your chat
11:14
like where you may be going
11:15
just trying to find out where he is um
11:19
give me a call thanks
11:32
oh my gosh
11:42
jonah
11:45
jonah
11:53
[Music]
11:54
jonah
12:05
[Music]
12:08
so
12:09
[Music]
12:22
foreign
12:28
what [ __ ] pretend i’m saying it
12:33
pretend i’m saying the thing
12:40
all right what all right
12:48
lo mane
12:54
of course i’m fine come here
13:12
[Music]
13:17
[Applause]
13:18
oh
13:26
oh my gosh
13:39
[Music]
13:52
[Applause]
13:54
[Music]
14:00
uh
14:05
[Music]
14:23
[Music]
14:31
you

This post was previously published on YouTube.

***


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Photo credit: Screenshot from video

The post Unicorns [Video] appeared first on The Good Men Project.


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