Bibliographic Information:
- Title: Words on Bathroom Walls
- Starring: Charlie Plummer (plays Adam Petrazelli); Taylor Russell (Maya Arnez)
- Release Date: December 3, 2020
- Directed by: Thor Freudenthal
- Screenplay by: Nick Naveda
- Based on the book by Julia Walton
- Running time: 1 hr 50 min
Genre [Format]:
- Drama, Romance [Movie]
- Chlotrudis Award, 2021 Nominee: Best Adapted Screenplay: Nick Naveda (IMDb, 2021).
- PG-13
Plot Summary:
Adam Petrazelli hears voices and sees three people who are always talking to him. He just wants to be “normal” and to attend Culinary school to further his interest when he discovers he has quite a knack for cooking. But a psychotic episode causes him to be expelled from his high school and his last chance is attending a private Catholic school where he meets Maya, a brilliant girl attending the school on scholarship. Their friendship deepens but Adam refuses to share his mental health condition with her. Meanwhile, his mom’s and her boyfriend are getting more serious and his life is about to change again when he finds out his mom is expecting a child.
Adam Petrazelli hears voices and sees three people who are always talking to him. He just wants to be “normal” and to attend Culinary school to further his interest when he discovers he has quite a knack for cooking. But a psychotic episode causes him to be expelled from his high school and his last chance is attending a private Catholic school where he meets Maya, a brilliant girl attending the school on scholarship. Their friendship deepens but Adam refuses to share his mental health condition with her. Meanwhile, his mom’s and her boyfriend are getting more serious and his life is about to change again when he finds out his mom is expecting a child.
Screenwriter & Director Background:
Nick Naveda is a writer and director known for his 2017 debut movie, Say You Will which was a Seattle international Film Festival nominee. He mentions that he gravitates towards teens whose experiences have some passing similarity to his like the fact that he lost his father when he was a teenager (both characters in his two films have absentee fathers -- one deserts, the other in his debut film commits suicide) (Morin, 2020).
Film director Thor Freudenthal was born in Germany in 1972 and best known for his work in Diary of a Wimpy Kid which he directed in 2010 and Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters which he directed in 2013. He attended the largest art school in Berlin, Germany, and then moved to Southern California as an exchange student in California Institute of the Arts (Wikimedia Foundation, 2021).
Nick Naveda is a writer and director known for his 2017 debut movie, Say You Will which was a Seattle international Film Festival nominee. He mentions that he gravitates towards teens whose experiences have some passing similarity to his like the fact that he lost his father when he was a teenager (both characters in his two films have absentee fathers -- one deserts, the other in his debut film commits suicide) (Morin, 2020).
Film director Thor Freudenthal was born in Germany in 1972 and best known for his work in Diary of a Wimpy Kid which he directed in 2010 and Percy Jackson Sea of Monsters which he directed in 2013. He attended the largest art school in Berlin, Germany, and then moved to Southern California as an exchange student in California Institute of the Arts (Wikimedia Foundation, 2021).
PODCAST: listen to an interview with Nick Naveda who wrote the script for the film:
Critical Evaluation:
Knowing very little about schizophrenia, besides what I’ve read in brochures, this movie gave me a glimpse into the mind of someone suffering from schizophrenia. Nationwide less than 1 percent of the population is diagnosed with schizophrenia and while that may seem small, in my town of 30,000 that equates to potentially 210 people with schizophrenia. This movie does not romanticize mental illness; it presents a realistic breakdown of one’s tether to reality when a psychotic episode occurs. The story is narrated by Adam himself who speaks directly to the camera from his seat at the therapist’s office. The audience functions like the listening therapist, a captive audience, quietly listening to his story and letting the events unfold. It’s a clever cinematic tactic that makes us feel invested in the outcome of Adam’s story. The addition of a love interest and her own social issues (poverty, health care/insurance problems) are secondary to the larger message dealing with mental health.
I don’t know if this was intended social commentary, but it was interesting to note that Adam, who is white, has all the financial resources to get him the best mental health care available including involvement in a trial drug, while his love interest, Maya, who is a person of color, is a teenager who has to work under the table to make enough money to feed her family as her father is injured, temporarily unable to work and too poor to afford decent health care.
Knowing very little about schizophrenia, besides what I’ve read in brochures, this movie gave me a glimpse into the mind of someone suffering from schizophrenia. Nationwide less than 1 percent of the population is diagnosed with schizophrenia and while that may seem small, in my town of 30,000 that equates to potentially 210 people with schizophrenia. This movie does not romanticize mental illness; it presents a realistic breakdown of one’s tether to reality when a psychotic episode occurs. The story is narrated by Adam himself who speaks directly to the camera from his seat at the therapist’s office. The audience functions like the listening therapist, a captive audience, quietly listening to his story and letting the events unfold. It’s a clever cinematic tactic that makes us feel invested in the outcome of Adam’s story. The addition of a love interest and her own social issues (poverty, health care/insurance problems) are secondary to the larger message dealing with mental health.
I don’t know if this was intended social commentary, but it was interesting to note that Adam, who is white, has all the financial resources to get him the best mental health care available including involvement in a trial drug, while his love interest, Maya, who is a person of color, is a teenager who has to work under the table to make enough money to feed her family as her father is injured, temporarily unable to work and too poor to afford decent health care.
Creative Use for a Library Program:
Create a collaborative display of mental health resources (all the books I curated for Dewey 616.x) available in our library in conjunction with the Teen Health Center’s mental health awareness presentation. Show the movie at the end of the week during our enrichment period (starts at 3:05 pm on Fridays) and do a brief Q&A with a panel of local representatives from NAMI (National Alliance in Mental Health) Juneau who are willing to share their local expertise.
Create a collaborative display of mental health resources (all the books I curated for Dewey 616.x) available in our library in conjunction with the Teen Health Center’s mental health awareness presentation. Show the movie at the end of the week during our enrichment period (starts at 3:05 pm on Fridays) and do a brief Q&A with a panel of local representatives from NAMI (National Alliance in Mental Health) Juneau who are willing to share their local expertise.
Speed-Round Book Talk or Short Book Trailer:
Adam hears voices and sometimes they tell him conflicting things. When Adam gets kicked out of his school after his first psychotic episode, he meets a girl in his new parochial school who challenges him to be a better person and for the first time, Adam feels, with the help of his trial medication, in control of his mind. Watch and find out where Adam and Maya’s friendship takes them.
Adam hears voices and sometimes they tell him conflicting things. When Adam gets kicked out of his school after his first psychotic episode, he meets a girl in his new parochial school who challenges him to be a better person and for the first time, Adam feels, with the help of his trial medication, in control of his mind. Watch and find out where Adam and Maya’s friendship takes them.
Potential Challenge Issues and Defense Preparation:
Strong language and violent depictions of Adam’s psychotic episodes are disturbing and difficult to watch. Mental health issues, while we are aware of it especially since the pandemic hit, still carries a stigma so discussion of any psychosis or exposing our students to this film could be problematic. However, destigmatizing begins by talking freely about this topic and by presenting as many viewpoints, especially from one who suffers from mental illness. Students have a first amendment right to see this movie and they will be better off for it (American Library Association, 2019).
Strong language and violent depictions of Adam’s psychotic episodes are disturbing and difficult to watch. Mental health issues, while we are aware of it especially since the pandemic hit, still carries a stigma so discussion of any psychosis or exposing our students to this film could be problematic. However, destigmatizing begins by talking freely about this topic and by presenting as many viewpoints, especially from one who suffers from mental illness. Students have a first amendment right to see this movie and they will be better off for it (American Library Association, 2019).
Reason for Inclusion:
This movie gives one a visual understanding of the mental health issue of schizophrenia and knowing that there are several students who actually suffer this in silence, this movie would be a useful and hopeful watch.
This movie gives one a visual understanding of the mental health issue of schizophrenia and knowing that there are several students who actually suffer this in silence, this movie would be a useful and hopeful watch.
Words on Bathroom Walls Official Film Trailer (Roadside Flix, 2020).
REFERENCES
American Library Association. (2019, July 13). First Amendment and Censorship. Advocacy, Legislation & Issues. http://www.ala.org/advocacy/intfreedom/censorship.
IMDb.com. (2020). Nick Naveda. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4550950/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm.
IMDb.com. (2021). Words on Bathroom Walls. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8045906/awards?ref_=tt_awd
Morin, M. (Host). (2020, August 18). Nick Naveda Interview for Words on Bathroom Walls [Audio podcast episode]. In TwoOhSix Podcast • A podcast on Anchor. Anchor. https://anchor.fm/thetwoohsix/episodes/Nick-Naveda-Interview-for-Words-on-Bathroom-Walls-eibmkt.
RoadsideFlix. (2020, July 15). Words on Bathroom Walls Official Trailer [Video File]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/4E1-RnpOe8Q
Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, April 12). Thor Freudenthal. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Freudenthal.
IMDb.com. (2020). Nick Naveda. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/name/nm4550950/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm.
IMDb.com. (2021). Words on Bathroom Walls. IMDb. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8045906/awards?ref_=tt_awd
Morin, M. (Host). (2020, August 18). Nick Naveda Interview for Words on Bathroom Walls [Audio podcast episode]. In TwoOhSix Podcast • A podcast on Anchor. Anchor. https://anchor.fm/thetwoohsix/episodes/Nick-Naveda-Interview-for-Words-on-Bathroom-Walls-eibmkt.
RoadsideFlix. (2020, July 15). Words on Bathroom Walls Official Trailer [Video File]. YouTube. https://youtu.be/4E1-RnpOe8Q
Wikimedia Foundation. (2021, April 12). Thor Freudenthal. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thor_Freudenthal.
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