Michelle Melles

While I was doing research for my personal documentary, "Drunk On Too Much Life" it was really hard for me to find a film that explored what gets called 'extreme mental illness' in such a personal, empathetic, ethical, sensitive and humanizing way as Chloe Sosa-Sims and Jake Chirico's film "Dan and Margot". The audience becomes enamoured with Margot and sees her as a person - her full and complex humanity - not simply her "diagnosis." The filmmakers don't interview psychiatrists or talking head experts - the POV is from their perspective and from people who deeply cared about Margot. This film cuts new ground in documentaries surrounding issues of mental health.

This film is a sensationalistic, seemingly journalistic examination of mental health done from a sister’s point of view - done with very little love, complexity of thought, originality or tenderness. As a filmmaker and soon to be MFA graduate of documentary media and mother of a daughter who seriously struggles with her mental health, I found this film unethical and problematic to say the least.