Mental Health Awareness Month film: Fight Club
David Fincher, 1999, USA, Germany, Colour, 139 mins, Certificate: 15
“The first rule of Fight Club is: you do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: you DO NOT talk about Fight Club!”
Except to say that this is an ever controversial cult classic that defined the 90s as they were expiring, celebrating its 25th anniversary, and the weirdly perfect, anything but obvious film to mark Mental Health Awareness Month.
Featuring knock out performances by Edward Norton, Brad Pitt and Helena Bonham Carter, it ingeniously interrogates ideas and occurrences of (male) identity, toxic masculinity (so long before we found the words for it), alienation and, yes, mental health infliction, that men in particular so often suffer silently, and shamefully, still.
Based on, and according to the author Chuck Palahniuk himself, an improvement on the novel of the same name, it showcases Fincher’s uncanny ability to mastermind visually stunning, mind-blowing deep and nuanced, rich in shrewd hints, innuendos and implications cinematic puzzles.
Films that work on many levels and across a variety of different genres, without sacrificing substance over style.
There is a reason we do not talk about Fight Club. It’s because you can only, ever, experience it.
Reviews:
“Fight Club is one movie that exactly caught the pre-millennial tension. Great performances, stunning visuals and a plot like nothing you’ve ever seen…” Adam Smith, Empire
“With an absolutely brilliant direction and execution, Fincher uses Jim Uhls’ captivating, layered, unconventional screenplay to tackle themes such as consumerism, society’s behavior, and mental health, seamlessly transmitting meaningful yet contentious messages. […while] Brad Pitt and Edward Norton elevate the whole movie so much with their ridiculously outstanding performances… ” Manuel São Bento, MSB Reviews
“After Fight Club, it’s impossible to go back: to ordinary life, to ordinary fears, to ordinary films.” Kim Newman, Empire
“The director of “Seven” and “The Game”… finds subject matter audacious enough to suit his lightning-fast visual sophistication, and puts that style to stunningly effective use. [T]he sardonic, testosterone-fueled science fiction of “Fight Club” touches a raw nerve… [as] it builds a huge, phantasmagorical structure around the search for lost masculine authority, and attempts to psychoanalyze an entire society in the process.” Janet Maslin, The New York Times