Film Review: ‘Touched With Fire’ Contains a Different Perspective

Submitted by PatrickMcD on February 21, 2016 - 4:01pm

CHICAGO – How do you explain air? That is what our thoughts are, after all – carbon-based cells interacting with circumstantial environment, sending the “message.” What if those cells send the thought receiver something outside “normal”? This is the exploration in the new film ‘Touched With Fire.’

Rating: 3.5/5.0

This is narrative fiction, but it brings out another side of the debate regarding the mental condition, and the judgement associated with it. The main characters in the film have Bipolar Disorder. Now, notice the word “disorder” – out of order, not orderly. The medical profession has defined the Bipolar condition is an anomaly. “Touched With Fire” seeks to take back the disorderly part of that definition, and doe it through the story of two people who take it to another place. There are clichés in the film, and scenes that were a bit too cute, but the writer/director Paul Dalio actually has Bipolar condition, and he does make a powerful statement regarding its perception in society – both in the inflicted and among the outside observers.

The story is about Carla (Katie Holmes) and Marco (Luke Kirby), two writers who has found success and dread under their Bipolar condition. Both simultaneously get to a point where their families have to step in (Christine Lahti and Bruce Altman for Carla, Griffin Dunne for Marco) and check them into a clinic. They meet there, and find a kindred spirit together, and fall in love.

This love is star crossed, and once it is found out by the clinic they are separated. But outside those doors they find each other again, and convince their parents that the relationship could work. When they ramp it up together, in harmony with their condition, everything seems fine. But those elusive reactions in each consciousness begin to conspire against them. They will need to make decisions, despite their state of being, and because of it.  

“Touched With Fire” opens in Chicagoland on February 19th – at the AMC River East 21 (322 E. Illinois, Chicago) and Landmark Renaissance Cinema (1850 2nd St., Highland Park). Limited release elsewhere, see local listings for theaters and show times. Featuring Luke Kirby, Katie Holmes, Christine Lahti, Bruce Altman and Griffin Dunne. Written and directed by Paul Dalio. Rated “R”