Movie reviews: 'The Other Half' an uncompromising look at mental illness

'Strange things start happening': Crouse on 'It' CTV's Film Critic Richard Crouse says moviegoers look at 'It Chapter Two', 'Becoming Nobody' and 'Once Were Brothers'.

THE OTHER HALF: 4 STARS

“The Other Half," starring Tom Cullen and Tatiana Maslany, is an uncompromising and intense look at mental illness.

Cullen (“Downton Abbey’s” Anthony Gillingham) is Nickie, a short-tempered waiter shown the restaurant’s door when he has a run in with a customer. Coming to his defence is aspiring painter Emily (Maslany), an outgoing young woman with bipolar disease. The pair begin a relationship, sharing a deeply felt connection that weathers Nickie’s sudden rages and Emily’s descent into depression. When her condition spirals out of control her father Jacob (Henry Czerny), fearing for her safety opts to institutionalize his daughter. Months later the couple reunite and move in together, but old problems arise.

Director Joey Klein straightforwardly, but sensitively portrays the couple’s travails with a combination of clever photography, sound design and careful scripting. Nickie’s alienation is brought to life with dreamlike audio and disorienting visual cues. Maslany brings a kinetic energy to Emily’s troubled state, emphasizing the self-destructive urges that rule her behaviour.

Both leads hand in remarkable performances. Maslany is external, physical in her work, Cullen all brooding and internal. Together they click, creating the emotional core of the film as they struggle to find a way to be together. “The Other Half” is a movie that never takes the easy way out and neither do the actors.

LOVESICK: 3 STARS

“Lovesick” turns the usual romantic comedy journey of self-discovery on its head by flipping the main character’s sex from female to male. Other than that, this is a by-the-book rom com that amiably balances the rom with the com.

Jacob Tierney is Dash, a thirtysomething mural artist recently separated from his long time girlfriend Lauren (“Mad Men’s” Jessica Paré). Childhood sweethearts, they were together for twelve years and their break-up has hit Dash hard. Compounding his hurt is her new love Mark (Jay Baruchel). He’s a wiseguy, quick with a barb, who has asked Lauren to marry him.

Dash’s lovesickness has affected every aspect of his life and when he meets Nora (Ali Tataryn) sparks fly, but he is still obsessed with Lauren. Hashing out his feelings of unrequited love with a therapist he searches for a way to let go of the past. Will it be a rehash of “The Graduate” or will Dash move on and move forward?

“Lovesick” doesn’t reinvent the wheel. The most remarkable thing about it is that it sets the action in Winnipeg rather than in the rom com cradle of New York. The same clever, slightly damaged people are on display, wearing their hearts on their sleeves in a movie that follows the rom com formula.

Luckily the cast has great chemistry. Montrealers Tierney, Baruchel and Paré click, making the most of the script’s charms. Rom coms are all about squeezing out laughs and a few heartfelt moments from a formula. “Lovesick” does that effectively, building a cast of quirky characters to surround Dash as his life crumbles.

“Lovesick” is a journey of self discovery, mixed with a few laughs, a tiny bit of romance (it’s more fixation than desire) and just enough darkness to separate it from the run of the mill rom com.

ANTIBIRTH: 2 STARS

“Antibirth” appears to have been made with the midnight movie crowd in mind. Surreal, gross and often quite funny, it stars “Orange is the New Black’s” Natasha Lyonne and asks the question, “Who-or what-is growing inside her?”

Lyonne stars as Lou, a hard core stoner who begins the story by blacking out at a rave after partying all night with her blotto best friend Sadie (Chloë Sevigny). Soon she discovers she is pregnant and her memory, skewed by her near constant drug use, offers few clues as to the identity of the father. ” “I’m not pregnant … I’m infected,” she slurs. “Whatever is inside of me is infecting my brain, my body; it’s not just in my crotch.” Her own lifestyle choices, paranoia, surreal visions and a rapidly growing belly hamper her search for answers. Only Lorna (Meg Tilly), a mysterious but helpful stranger, may be able to offer help.

“Antibirth” is pure schlock delirium probably best enjoyed after a night out with Lou. Imagine a splatterpunk “Rosemary’s Baby” or as particularly gross episode of “X-Files” and you get what I mean. It’s an altered state kind of flick that owes a debt to “The Toxic Avenger” and any other movie that values oozing pus and spraying blood as much as it does plot.

Lyonne is the spunky centre, brash but compelling. She pulls off lines like, “Let me tell you what I need: candy, money, and whip-its,” and manages, against all odds to make add some humanity to Lou and her situation.

Tilly, who is practically unrecognizable here, keeps things lively while Sevigny doesn’t do much but swing and sway to whatever is playing on the soundtrack.

The real star here is the film’s wild, untamed spirit. It’s not all good—the movie drags in the middle, much of the stoner dialogue is snooze inducing—but “Antibirth” builds up to a body horror climax that, for better and for worse, once seen will not soon be forgotten.