"Another Girl" by writer/director Allison Burnett -- an interesting look at mental illness. - AmNews Curtain Raiser

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Saturday, September 4, 2021

"Another Girl" by writer/director Allison Burnett -- an interesting look at mental illness.

 

"Another Girl" by writer/director Allison Burnett -- an interesting look at mental illness.

Ding. Ding. Ding.  In writer/director Allison Burnett’s indie film “Another Girl” college student, Elle Overton, becomes dangerously obsessed with Katie Kampenfelt, who is a heroine of a novel that she devours. Elle’s like millions of women her age and battling clinical depression. She convinces herself that the character (Katie) is a flesh-and-blood human being, and decides she must meet her at any cost. 

Veteran Hollywood  Burnett directs this new film, picking up immediately in the aftermath of her prior cult favorite "Ask Me Anything." 

In "Another Girl," the heroine,  Elle Overton (Sammi Hanratty), a college student, becomes obsessed with a fictional woman Katie Kampenfelt, that lives only in her favorite novel but Elli’s convinced that she’s flesh-and-blood and decides to meet her at any cost. Burnett explores how depression and mental illness collide within the absurd, surreal world of the internet. It turns out that the "character" is a real person who replies back and to Ellen thinking that's she's her new, best friend.

But Elle doesn’t live an ideal life. Her judgmental mother rejects her lifestyle and she only has a relationship with her brother. Elle starts working in an office and turns a professional. Just when everything starts to improve for her, she has an affair with her married boss. 

Let’s be frank and upfront, Elle’s character is designed to be wonderfully flawed and is emotionally unstable, and it works. The environment is chaotic and she’s drenched in fear about the world around her and is woefully unprepared. Her colleagues are considered and keep a close eye on her odd and troubling behavior, as she’s driven to find “Katie” and becomes more reckless with each desperate act. 

What’s interesting about Burnett’s film is that it’s actually complex as it takes a deep dive into the fragile life of a very awkward young woman who is swimming in a toxic environment that’s becoming “normal.” For example, Elle thinks that this “character/person” is the only one that understands her, and judges herself without understanding that she’s doing it at all.

Actress Sammi Hanratty is a solid actress and delivers an honest, and strong performance. It’s a film that moves and lands in its quite a zone and we understand that Elle is a victim of her own world, with Burnett delivering the final blow. 

“Another Girl”, written and directed by Allison Burnett, will release nationally on VOD on Sept. 14th. It will be available OnDemand on iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay, Vudu, Vimeo, Spectrum, Comcast, Cox, Dish, DirecTV, FandangoNow, and a few others. The film will also be available on SHOWTIME later in the year.

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