My family has been struck with mental illness, time and time again. Serious mental illness, with even homicide. So to me, this really strikes a chord.
As complex and confused as this film is (intentionally), I feel it is a story centered around Bill and his mother's struggle with mental illness. His mother's story, aside from the parts about his relatives that seem more metaphorical, such as the train deaths, feels like it is something that actually occurred, although I may just be biased because of how I like that.
His mother struggling through mental illness to try to make Bill's life a good one, and also probably struggling through the guilt of having him in the first place is heartbreaking. Bill's own struggle with his body and his joy is also the same, and I feel the point of the story is how he overcame this monumental struggle by honing in on the smallest of things. A brief forgiveness for a long forgotten wrong. Appreciating the way the light feels, the way the grass feels. These small things, dismissible at the start of Bill's journey, now in his final moments feel like the grandness of immortality, of ultimate and exponential life.
As complex and confused as this film is (intentionally), I feel it is a story centered around Bill and his mother's struggle with mental illness. His mother's story, aside from the parts about his relatives that seem more metaphorical, such as the train deaths, feels like it is something that actually occurred, although I may just be biased because of how I like that.
His mother struggling through mental illness to try to make Bill's life a good one, and also probably struggling through the guilt of having him in the first place is heartbreaking. Bill's own struggle with his body and his joy is also the same, and I feel the point of the story is how he overcame this monumental struggle by honing in on the smallest of things. A brief forgiveness for a long forgotten wrong. Appreciating the way the light feels, the way the grass feels. These small things, dismissible at the start of Bill's journey, now in his final moments feel like the grandness of immortality, of ultimate and exponential life.