Film Review: HYPOCHONDRIAC: Good Performances Sail Through Piecemeal Narrative [SXSW 2022]

Hypochondriac Review

Hypochondriac (2022) Film Review from the 29th Annual South by Southwest Film Festival, a movie written and directed by Addison Heimann, starring Zach Villa, Devon Graye, Madeline Zima, Yumarie Morales, Marlene Forte, Chris Doubek, Paget Brewster, Adam Busch, Michael Cassidy, Peter Mensah, Debra Wilson.

More like a series of vignettes than a film proper, Hypochondriac focuses on the breakdown of reality in the life of a ceramic artist when his estranged mother reappears in his life.

The gifted director Addison Heimann has no trouble keeping the audience engaged with this collection of extraordinary images, no matter how weakly they relate to each other. The story, such as it is, seems like a series of dead-ends, as though some sort of trial-and-error is going on to find a strong story thread.

Take the title, for instance. The term hypochondriac is one who imagines having an illness without evidence of physical symptoms or misinterpreting normal physical variants. Hypochondriacs readily recognize the anxiety-ridden reality around them. But there are no psychotic breaks like the delusions and fearful hallucinations experienced by Will, the tortured protagonist.

At the risk of being presumptuous, possibly Heimann meant psychogenic instead, actual physical symptoms caused by psychological stress. While psychotic reactions are not associated with this condition either, one could still make a case for it. The early symptom is a palsied arm, for which doctors find no physical cause. It’s not much of a stretch and still well in keeping the body horror genre of this piece.

But that said, there is much to enjoy about this film, not the least of which are the performances. Zach Villa, as the hero, handles the array of moods, petulance, and aggression with equal aplomb. He conveys what connecting narrative thread there is, though the wild antitheses are hard to account for. Marlene Forte triumphs as Will’s mother, struggling with her own delusions, yet she imparts the intelligent, insightful woman that appealed to Will’s father, played by Chris Doubek, enough to wed her.

Doubek’s stony portrayal as the attorney dad stands out thanks to his near-complete emotional withdrawal, evidently more jurist than dad. He has plenty of advice for his son, delivered with such utilitarian chill that one expects Will to get a bill in the mail.

Zack’s mother, without a doubt, loves her son, but in a way as damaging as Dad’s indifference. As first she starts sending packages to Will containing warnings by way of notes, clippings, cassette and VHS tapes, and eventually appearing in person. She is lucid and quite funny at times, other times she’s clearly off her rocker, yet her paranoia reflects a fascinating and disquieting sophistry.

Also, a wolf-like phantom as part of Will’s delusion seems to have a connection to Mom; the opening scene is a video of Will in a wolf costume with Mom encouraging grunts and growls. This wolf, now animated and frankly scary, appears here and there throughout the film, sometimes ferocious, other times like a mentor or playmate. No doubt Heimann assigns a special role to this spectral creature, but doesn’t clarify the concept. A good guess might be something like Jekyll-and-Hyde; but again, it’s hard to know where this lycanthrope fits into the cracks.

Zack’s boyfriend, Luke, played by Devon Graye, is probably the most enigmatic character in this work. The couple seems on the edge of full-blown commitment, from which Will shies away.  Alternately tender, passive-aggressive or exasperated, it’s hard to fathom, at certain points, if Luke is present at all or just a reflection of Will’s past.

Yet these scenes, like most others, taken separately are striking and horrific; the poster image is an excellent example. Despite its jagged narrative, there’s nothing shoddy about it. There’s no denying that Hypochondriac has a fascinating tenor. But the director’s vision keeps outstripping the plot. The curious result is that the film ends up being less than the sum of its parts.

Rating: 7/10

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