Boy Interrupted

Boy Interrupted
Promotional poster
Directed by Dana Perry
Cinematography Hart Perry
Production
company
Perry Films
Distributed by HBO Films
Release date
  • 2009 (2009)
Running time
 92 minutes
Country United States
Language English

Boy Interrupted is a 2009 documentary feature film about the suicide in 2005 of Evan Perry, a 15-year-old boy from New York.[1][2] The title references the best-selling memoir Girl, Interrupted, also about mental illness.

Story

Perry came from a family with a history of mental illness; his uncle had committed suicide at age 21. Evan had been diagnosed with depression and prescribed Prozac, then rediagnosed with bipolar depression and prescribed mood stabilizers, namely Lithium, and later received milieu therapy, which brought relief for a time.[3] However, at age 15, he jumped to his death from his family's apartment window.[2]

Production

The film was made by the boy's parents, director Dana Perry and cinematographer Hart Perry.[1][4] It was made for HBO Documentary Films, being shown on TV and released on DVD. It was also shown at Sundance in January 2009.[5]

Critical response

Variety noted that because of his parents' occupations, they did a good job in recording his life, and produced an "elegiac little gem".[1] The Philadelphia Inquirer called it a "remarkable, deeply unsettling documentary", scoring it 3/4 stars.[2] The Movie Blog criticised the production quality, but found that the film still "communicated effectively and with a lot of emotion".[5] SI Live suggested that the boy's story perhaps did not merit a documentary, but it was "valuable viewing" in that it would educate people a little about mental illness.[6]

Rotten Tomatoes records three positive reviews and no negative.[7]

References

  1. 1 2 3 John Anderson, "Boy Interrupted" (Review), Variety, January 21, 2009
  2. 1 2 3 Tirdad Derakhshani, "Parents' tragic account of a suicide at 15", Philadelphia Inquirer, April 3, 2009
  3. ↑ Penelope Andrew, "Evan's Excruciating Choice: A Family Devastated and A Boy Interrupted on HBO", Huffington Post, August 3, 2009
  4. ↑ Regina Weinreich, "Boy Interrupted: Interview with Filmmaker Dana Perry", Huffington Post, August 3, 2009
  5. 1 2 John Campea, "Sundance Report #4 – Boy Interrupted Review", The Movie Blog, January 16, 2009
  6. ↑ Todd Hill, "TV REVIEW: 'Boy Interrupted'", SI Live (Staten Island, NY), August 1, 2009
  7. ↑ "Boy Interrupted", Rotten Tomatoes (accessed June 1, 2012)
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