What Film Would Win If Psychologists Gave Out Academy Awards?

The decision to add selected psychologically relevant films to PsycCRITIQUES (a practice introduced by E. G. Boring, the first editor of Contemporary Psychology) has been widely applauded, and many readers report they read the film reviews before turning to the more pedestrian reviews of books.

Some of the films that have been (or will be) reviewed in PsycCRITIQUES include The Secret in Their Eyes, Solitary Man, Black Swan, Peacock, Inception, The Social Network, Life During Wartime, Temple Grandin, Skin, and The Kids Are All Right.

If you were organizing awards for psychologically relevant films, which movies would you nominate?

Read the Reviews

No Man Is an Island, or Is He?
By Meera Rastogi
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2011 Vol 56(8)

• A review of the film Solitary Man

Of Two Minds
By Etzel Cardeña and Sophie Reijman
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2010 Vol 55(51)

• A review of the film Peacock

The Tenacity of an Idea
By Keith Oatley
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2010 Vol 55(50)

• A review of the film Inception

A Life With Autism
By Donald Oswald
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2010 Vol 55(44)

• A review of the film Temple Grandin

A Roller-Coaster of Intelligences
By Jeremy Clyman
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2010 Vol 55(49)

• A review of the film The Social Network

Muddling Through
By Steven N. Gold
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2010 Vol 55(39)

• A review of the film The Kids Are All Right

When She Was White: The Value of White Skin During Apartheid
      By Kellina M. Craig-Henderson
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2010 Vol 55(43)

• A review of the film Skin

Unforgiveable
By Keith Oatley
      PsycCRITIQUES, 2010 Vol 55(48)

• A review of the film Life During Wartime

Comments

[Daniel Fasko, Jr.]

I would nominate the following "oldies but goodies":
Blackboard Jungle
To Sir with Love
A Clockwork Orange
1984
Stand and Deliver
Psycho (the first one)

Dan

[daily painting]

Buitiful? If we can go back in time how about 2009's A single Man and 2006's Pan's Labyrinth?

[Townley Peters]

From this year I would nominate:
The King's Speech
Buitiful
Black Swan

I was really excited when King's Speech was chosen for Best Movie not just because it was a great movie, but it is more importantly one of the few movies that come to mind that focus on stuttering. Moreover, it is the only movie I can think of where the person that stutters is not used as a form of comic relief.

[Jim Korn]

"Winter's Bone" would be my choice. It has not yet been reviewed in PsycCritiques. Certainly full of psychological relevance: a girl searching for her father in the grim, violent Ozark meth country.

[DrGaryG]

Nuts - Barbara Streisand
Kay Pax - Kevin Spacey

[Anais Wong]

I would nominate...

For recent movies:
Black Swan (psychosis, perfectionism, sexuality, mother-daughter relationship)
Inglourious Basterds (war, oppression, perpetration of violence, PTSD)
Up (existential psychology)
Juno (adolescent clinical issues)

For classics:
Brazil (1985)
The Tin Drum (1979)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Shining (1980)

[Kate Thomson]

These are a few of my favorites:

Lars and the Real Girl - Delusional Disorder
Little Miss Sunshine - Depression; Suicide; Selective Mutism
A Single Man – Grief; Depression; Human Sexuality
Rainman – Autism
Girl Interupted – Psychosis
Away From Her – Alzheimer’s
Rachel Getting Married – Borderline Personality Disorder; Substance Abuse
Heavenly Creatures – Child Psychopathology
Lolita – Pedophilia
Kids – Adolescent Development
Juno – Adolescent Development
Crash – Prejudice
The Kids Are Alright – Human Sexuality; Adoption

[autism attorney]

I would definitely nominate Black Swan. I am still intrigued with her case.

[Roberto Sivak MD]

Congratulations for the blog. Its very important for the education at mental health on Buenos Aires, Maimonides University and Argentine Association of Mental Health
Roberto Sivak MD
Professor of Clinical Psychiatry
Member of Section of Education Latin American Psychiatry Association