After college, a depressed young woman has a quarter life crisis. Between her degrading job at a restaurant and her failed relationships with family and men, she starts seeing a therapist who turns out to be just as conventional as everyone else.

I believe that at a certain point in our lives we all think we’re crazy to one degree or another. For some and so many, this can carry over and become a deepened psychological problem. That’s where filmmaker Leah McKissock brings her mystifying short ‘Crazy Like Me’. A story about a depressive young woman with a degrading job and her failed relationships with family and men. She starts seeing a therapist who turns out to be just as conventional as everyone else.

With this film, I wanted to tell a classic coming of age story through a unique female protagonist. A lot of inspiration came from my own life and personal experiences, as well as some of my favorite films (The Graduate, Harold and Maude, and Annie Hall).

The story is smooth and almost everyday like, but Leah does a great job at casually turning this ‘everyday-like’ into depressive symptoms by her main character Audrey. Depression is an immensely difficult issue to understand, and watching ‘Crazy Like Me’ puts you close enough into Audrey’s heavy shoes that you get to understand, at least that it’s not as easy as telling someone to ‘snap out of it’, or ‘shape up!’.

Trying to tackle ‘depression’ in a short amount of time was also a challenge. I tried to find a balance between letting scenes play out slowly through long takes while also moving the story along.

The film is held strong by its formidable cast, lead by the lovely Carrie Finklea as Audrey. ‘Crazy Like Me’ was also carefully choreographed and paced, with an easy sensation that nothing was forced. Scenes rolled out naturally which made the longer shots feel like a breeze.

The overall goal of the film was to make something relatable for young people without belittling their problems, and also try to find my own voice as a narrative filmmaker.