Heaven is a Traffic Jam on the 405

Filmmaker Frank Stiefel’s Oscar-winning documentary draws no conclusions about the therapeutic value of art, but it does illustrate how one woman uses art to process her life experiences. Mindy Alper struggles to keep the demons of mental illness at bay. To function properly, she takes several pills a day for anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder—as well as several others to alleviate side effects. Stiefel uses animated sequences and in-camera effects to depict Alper’s social-anxiety-generated visions. Although Alper speaks with her mother often, they had a strained relationship when she was younger, beginning after the birth of her younger brother (from that point onward, her mother refused to touch her). And though her late father would eventually admit that he was proud of her, she spent her childhood living in fear that she would never live up to his expectations. Over the years, Alper has experienced suicidal thoughts, hospitalization, and shock treatment, along the way losing her ability to put words together. Although she has since regained that ability, she speaks in a careful, halting manner. She credits her therapist for helping her to "grow up," and her art instructor acknowledges the therapeutic value of her artistic practice, which includes pen and ink drawings, watercolor paintings, and papier mâché busts. The pieces that Alper works on during the film end up in a gallery show that is met with a warm, well attended reception. Whether or not art has saved Alper’s life, it has certainly made it easier to bear. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)