The House of Yes

A must see!! This comedy is dark and intelligent, with Parker Posey at her best (I think she's at her best a lot though). The premise involves a family including a mother, adult fraternal twins (a boy and girl), and another younger son. They are a wealthy family who live down the street from the Kennedy's. It is clear that the children grew up with many advantages, but something just isn't quite right. It becomes quickly apparent that the twin sister is one of those things. Her twin brother is bringing home a fiance' for Thanksgiving, and no one has broken the news to his fragile twin sister; who happens to be in incestuously in love with him.

This movie is a great psychiatry in film movie, especially if you focus on the family dynamics. Look at each relationship to identify the boundaries that have been poorly established. This film is a lesson in looking beyond the identified patient. There seem to be major personality disorders throughout and alleged Axis I problems. If you like dark humor, then you'll find yourself in the floor multiple times.

The Perfect Host

This is a highly entertaining and intricate film that ironically puts a former TV shrink, David Hyde Pierce, in a role portraying a similar but very different character. It's difficult to adequately review what's so great about the 90 minutes you will invest in this movie, without giving away too many surprises. It's an onion that unpeels itself for the duration. It's thought provoking and surprising with dark humor that will leave you with a smile.

While it's highly recommended, mental health is a major issue for this one. If you haven't seen then movie and want to then STOP HERE and come back after you seen it. ~Spoiler Alert~ Psychosis, although unique to every patient, is seldom seen in organized and highly functioning individuals, especially severe psychosis. While there were several consistencies in this film looking at a partially treated psychotic individual, my biggest hang up was that the character's reality testing was impaired so much yet he was so organized and highly functional in other parts of his life. Given that it was not limited to delusional thinking but also hallucinations this was even more inconsistent. At times, individuals may have such severe personality disorders that their reality testing may come unhinged, but usually not with hallucinations like this.

There are several psychodynamic issues worth exploring, especially in the protagonist's needs and drives for his actions. Because it is such a watchable movie with several flaws in its portrayal of mental illness, The Perfect Host is a Perfect movie for a psychiatry in film night to discuss what's so wrong and so right about this movie.