Rocks in My Pockets
Rocks in My Pockets
| 05 September 2014 (USA)
Rocks in My Pockets Trailers

The personal story of a woman struggling with an inherited illness, as told by Signe Baumane, the Latvian director-animator living in New York City. With humour and courage, the director sets out on a challenging journey to discover her family’s best-kept secret. Featuring five stories about the courageous women in Signe’s family and their battles with madness, visual metaphors, surreal images and director’s narration.

Reviews
Cubussoli

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

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Cathardincu

Surprisingly incoherent and boring

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Exoticalot

People are voting emotionally.

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Invaderbank

The film creates a perfect balance between action and depth of basic needs, in the midst of an infertile atmosphere.

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nadeto-ch

This movie is a brilliant representation of both the political situation in a certain part of the world at that time AND mental illnesses inside out. It intertwines the two into a story that captures what the reality of a lot of ordinary people used to be back then, stuff we never actually get to see in movies. Even a slight hereditary mental illness could grow and devour a person completely in such a toxic environement. I'd recommend the movie to anybody who wants to see a fresh aproach on the topic in a beautifully executed form.

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nemesbarna

I heard a lot about this before I watched it. And I seriously don't get all the fuss. Anyway I suffered through the whole movie, and for me it was horrible by all means.If you want to see some nice animation, don't ever watch this movie. Technically it mixes animation styles: stop-motion and traditional frame-by-frame, but it fails so badly. And it's not that I don't like weird characters, but these are just too simple and unpretending. The animation is low frame, not flawless at all, and that makes the scenes even harder to embrace. The stop-motion scenes look awful, for example a house looks like a simple paperboard box, that a five year old would make as a mock-up.About the story: there's not much to be told. Long story short: the main character has mental illness, and all her female family members too. Their life s*ck. Some of them commits suicide, but not her. The End.In my humble opinion the movie is really depressing to watch, and there's absolutely nothing to enjoy about it. It's not interesting, or fun, or clever, it's just sad and ugly, and very dull. After this movie I felt nothing but a deep urge to kill myself, so I don't have to watch this anymore.And her voice, which narrates everything, is so irritating, that I can't even describe it.I didn't find anything in this movie that worths mentioning. OK, maybe the moral of the story. But the idea, that someone with mental illness can live together with normal people, is not enough, at least not for me, to keep me interested and/or entertained for a movie this long, or to make up for the wasted time, and for the insulting quality of animation. Still I think the director/writer really tells the story of her life, which is nice, and she deserves all my respect for that. But if you go crazy in animation, do it with style! Please.

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Jason Olshefsky (Jayce)

This animated film is nearly a documentary about Baumane's family's history of mental illness—particularly suicidal depression, but told in a remarkably frank and surprisingly humorous way. Her accounts of her own depression and the personal, details of the experiences of her family are very honest and interesting. The remainder of the film, though, is somewhat uneven, spending a lot of time on seemingly inconsequential family history and on her eldest kin's stonewalling that haunts more recent generations. Nonetheless, in totality, it paints a remarkable picture. (Note that this review is also posted to my blog.)

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Elizabeth Whittemore

Mental illness is a hot button issue these days. We pretend to address it but if we're being honest, we continue to sweep it under the rug. In a brand new film by writer/director Signe Baumane, we follow the true story of her familiar heritage, specifically with undiagnosed bouts of severe depression. Created in an animation of mixed media forms, Rocks In My Pockets is a visually stunning masterpiece. Baumane narrates each individual story, illustrating the ignorance and fragility of those who "feel too much." There is an aura of bedtime story or campfire lore while in the same instance, education and awareness being brought to life. The uniqueness of the animation allows Baumane to take visual liberties in her storytelling. It's like watching one long, extremely vivid dream. It is an important film in a time where far too many people are being over or under medicated. It may be a gateway to a greater understanding and tolerance of what we do yet have a grasp on. Most likely, each one of us is directly affected by mental illness. It is a beautiful conversation starter.

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