Mental health issues have been depicted in cinema for many decades. These depictions are not always respectful, as they’re also frequently used as plot devices and character features. It seems we’ve forgotten the basics, but luckily, films like Good Side of Bad exist to keep us in tune with the important aspects of something very real.
I went blind into Good Side of Bad. After all, it’s the best way to see a movie if you want to be surprised by it. And what I found in the film was something that doesn’t always happen to me when I’m watching an indie film: I didn’t understand what genre it was. It felt like a very intense drama, but the film’s subject, Florence, was convincing enough to make me believe her condition regarded something menacing that was coming after her. This was no coincidence.
We’ve seen how schizophrenia works before. A Beautiful Mind, Shutter Island, and others come to mind. Only in Good Side of Bad Florence’s mental health issues are not used as a plot point. They’re a backdrop to something inevitable which adds to the powerful realism of the film. Eventually, I understood that it was a drama feature, but I was already in shock at how I failed to observe this before. Not only that, I realized that I may have overseen this before.
Good Side of Bad follows two siblings, Sara and Peter, who are forced to take care of their sister Florence after she’s diagnosed with schizophrenia. Their mother deals with dementia, so they’re unable to bring her into the picture. Florence insists she’s being chased, and eventually, she enters an institution that’s able to contain her. This is a film about the three of them trying to understand something otherworldly.
I can’t say anything else about the plot in Good Side of Bad because not much else needs to happen to make you realize what’s the story being told here. Florence navigates through the stages of her treatment, but none of them feel as effective as her siblings’ capacity. She only needs them to see that perhaps they are what she needs. The plot does move in some directions that didn’t feel necessary like Peter’s irregular presence or Sara’s questionable behavior, but luckily, the movie never loses its real perspective: it’s a film about a standardized part of society that needs to understand chaos.
The film wouldn’t work without Lexi Simonsen’s performance as Florence. The actress gets in the role enough to make you believe in what she sees, but she doesn’t appeal to the excess that’s often associated with schizophrenia. The fear in her eyes is enough to allow you to observe what’s going on in her mind. Simonsen is the driving force that lets the movie flow into its curiously uplifting ending: Control is only a theory, and containment seems to be the only thing that matters.
Film critic. Lover of all things horror. Member of the OFCS. RT Approved Critic.
