First-person documentary filmmaking always runs the risk of making exaggerated claims for the importance of an individual’s life. Codirector, screenwriter and subject Bud Clayman’s portrait of his attempts to deal with his once-debilitating mental illnesses—the film’s subtitle is The Obsessive Compulsive, Major Depression, Bipolar, Asperger’s Movie—occasionally suffers from an overdose of egoistic indulgence. (Why are we watching Clayman engage in a round of speed dating again?) But via several sequences—such as Clayman letting us eavesdrop on his relentless internal monologue—the film’s depiction of his reality is rendered with cinematic brio and forceful clarity.
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