DOES YOUR SOUL HAVE A COLD? Set for an IFC October Premiere
 Written by: Naomi Wiggins

Before the year 2000, the Japanese word for depression - Utsubyo - was only heard, recognized or used within the upper echelon of Japanese medical circles. However, after a highly aggressive campaign by American pharmaceutical companies that suggested a soul could have a cold and need anti- depressants to cure it, the Japanese people have become increasingly aware of the condition of depression and its effects. Bombarded and somewhat baffled by this previously untapped plethora of knowledge, those who have been hidden away, told there was something wrong with them or abused for years because of their abnormality are now coming forward in droves. Hungry for acceptance and understanding, they are willing to pour out their stories to anyone who will listen.

And listen is exactly what Director Mike Mills (Thumbsucker) has done. Following the lives of five unique individuals, the IFC documentary release Does Your Soul Have a Cold? movingly highlights the effects the "newly minted" condition of depression has had on the masses of Japan thus far. Through invasively intimate angles, broad shots of an impassive Tokyo and busy, blurred subway images of life on hyper speed, Mills prompts his viewers to wonder if an accurate definition of depression will ever fully and truly exist.

Blending their stories together with fluidity and precision, Mills seeks to allow Mika, Kayoko, Ken, Daisuke and Taketoshi to each represent an intriguing "style", "format" or "brand" of depression. As each person has their own method for dealing with the condition, fueled by their own preconceived notions of what the disease is all about, Mills asks sensitive questions and then patiently waits around for the extensive and varied answers.

Flashing across the screen young and beautiful, Mika doesn't feel as if there is a reason for living. By her own admission, she doesn't really want to die but would rather just sort of disappear. After a failed past attempt at suicide, Mika now spends her mornings stretching for what seems hours on end before heading off to sell medical samples. Desperately wanting off the antidepressants that regulate her life, Mika struggles to make a stand against the logical and persuasive emotions that easily overpower her.

Telling stories that illuminate a difficult childhood, it is clear that Kayoko, as opposed to Mika, has no willpower, strength or determination to get her emotions "under control". Lonely and tossed about by her every fleeting feeling, Kayoko's depression draws attention from her supervisor and fellow workers at her 9-5 at a T-shirt printing factory, attention that Kayoko desperately craves and fully relishes.

A bisexual with SM tendencies, Ken seems more like a voyeur who must continually be on an emotional high rather than an individual suffering from depression. Getting his kicks from abusive strip tease performances, it is clear that the ever polite and respectful Ken just really likes to be liked. His continuously runs from his depression, even in hot pants and high heels.

Daisuke is what many would call clinically depressed. Between the utter chaos of his room, his disregard for the rules of medicine and his own sabotage of his "getting well" process, Daisuke's depression is acute, potent and utterly debilitating. People like Daisuke don't usually commit suicide - People like Daisuke don't usually do much of anything.

Much like Kayoko, Taketoshi just wants to be loved. But unlike Kayoko, Taketoshi takes action daily to live a normal life. He swims, hangs out with friends, goes to self-help group meetings and takes detailed notes of the intricacies of his condition. Despite his attentiveness, it is clear he believes himself to be ultimately helpless and at the whim of the disease.

While these five fit easily into various points on the continuum of depression stored away in the American consciousness, they get lumped into one seemingly large and frighteningly new group in Japan, a group that neither society nor medical circles have a clear answer for.

Limited in its use of music, Does Your Soul Have a Cold? is hauntingly pensive. At films end, rather than wrapping the theatre in a melody that calms and soothes, Mill leaves his audience to sit in screaming silence, to think not only about these five lives but about the effects American advertising, a new generation of pill-poppers and an entirely new disease will have on the make-up and mentality of the Japanese culture.

For more information on the IFC premiere, visit www.ifc.com.

Does Your Soul Have A Cold? 

 Knocked Up Exceeds Expectations . . . Sort Of.
 Written by: Naomi Wiggins

With Knocked Up, Writer/Director Judd Apatow (The 40 Year-Old Virgin) has again selected a raunchy and crudely entitled film . . . and again, he exceeds expectations. For as opposed to the hilarious but ultimately mindless comedies of Anchorman, Talladega Nights and the like (Sorry Will Ferrell), Apatow brings to Knocked Up what he brought to its Virgin predecessor - humor filled with surprising heart, a story submerged within a plausible though awkward reality and dialogue so sharp it not only keeps an audience in stitches but subtly tickles their intellect as well.

Ben Stone (Seth Rogen) is a twenty-something that has yet to find the ambition necessary to make something of his life. "Working" with his buddies on a website that informs viewers of how long they have to wait for nudity in numerous and varied films, Ben has no "real" job and considers a couple hundred bucks in the bank to be more than satisfactory. Alison Scott (Katherine Heigl) is Ben's polar opposite. Beautiful, talented and driven, Alison has recently been promoted to on-air host for E! Entertainment Television.

Celebrating her career success with her older and highly neurotic sister Debbie (Leslie Mann), Alison crosses paths with Ben at a local bar and the rest, as they say, is history. Discovering come morning that they have little to nothing in common, each returns to their independent and distinct lives, ready and willing to simply move on.

But in eight weeks time, moving on isn't quite so easy. Revealing her pregnancy, Alison not only smashes Ben's mistaken belief in his own powers of attraction but she also destroys his carefree, pot-smoking world. It would seem that one night of fun has landed Alison and Ben in the midst of a huge dilemma.

As the film continues to follow the duo's blundering attempts to forge a relationship, prepare for the forthcoming baby and ultimately do the "right thing", the laughs keep coming in a script chock full of impeccably crafted dialogue. Despite the humor, however, Knocked Up looses its footing in one key area - Did anyone stop to consider why the gorgeous, successful and talented Alison chooses to stay at the bar and ultimately bring Ben home with her? As an audience we expect this to happen - given the title, we know this is going to happen - but we still have no idea why it is happening.

Perhaps she's lonely? After all, while we meet and hang out with Ben's foray of pot-smoking friends, Alison's BFF's are surprisingly absent. However, if this is the direction our thoughts are supposed to take, the necessary hints and prodding are pretty much nonexistent within the script - and Apatow is better than that.

Perhaps she really likes him? Unfortunately, if this was meant to be the case, then Heigl doesn't hold up her end of the bargain. The distance she continuous lays down between Alison and Ben keeps him firmly in the "I was in the Mood"/"Intoxicated"/"He happened to be around" category.

It would seem that laughter can cover up plenty but a gaping hole in plot will sadly stand out regardless of whether the audience can breathe or not.

As far as performances go, Rogen is dully apathetic and slacker-esqe. His ability to poke fun at himself and still remain humbly self-confident is as endearing as it is remarkable. Heigl is at times sweet and likeable, at others times completely and hormonally unfathomable. Within the confines of Alison's limited characterization and depth, she holds her own well enough.

Landing the much more entertaining roles of the married Debbie and Pete, Leslie Mann and Paul Rudd demonstrate more hearty, layered and in-depth performances. Mann manages to find a beautifully balance between Debbie's self-absorbed, anal, hyper- active tendencies and a genuine and heartfelt, though often times hidden, love for her husband. And Rudd turns Pete's soliloquy over chairs while stoned out of his mind in a Vegas hotel room into one of the highlights of the film.

However, if Knocked Up boiled down to one scene, that scene would belong to Kristin Wiig whose beautifully passive aggressive managing techniques within the picture perfect world of E! Entertainment are so good they produce hearty guffaws, sniggers and chortles in commercials alone.

Knocked Up