Teen depression and romance are subjects often uncomfortably mixed on film, but All The Bright Places handles it just right.
It’s about mental health and it’s about depression, but it doesn’t put a label on it. In fact, there’s one scene specifically where a character is in a room full of kids who identify as bipolar and suicidal, and they themselves cannot pinpoint their own diagnosis. They just know they need help. In today’s world where more people are talking about these issues more than ever, there’s something powerful about them being illustrated through an experience and not a “this person has this and these are the symptoms.” Because for most, that’s how they’ll live through it. All The Bright Places reaches into the gray areas of love, loss and mental illness in such profound, yet subtle ways.
