Running From Crazy

A well-intended but ultimately overbearing documentary in a confessional mode, Running From Crazy focuses on actress Mariel Hemingway's lifelong quest to come to terms with mental illness in her famous family. The granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway and a once-ubiquitous screen performer in the late 1970s and 1980s, Mariel—now a middle-aged mom of two daughters, one being Dree Hemingway, a successful model/actress—spends much of her time as an activist for making mental health resources available to depressed and suicidal people. Hemingway admits that she has struggled with these issues herself, and reflects on the number of suicides and psychological breakdowns that have claimed members of her family, including Ernest and her sister, Margaux (a celebrity model and actress who died of an overdose of phenobarbital in 1996). Another sister, Joan, also appears to be struggling with her own demons. The connect-the-dots approach detailing the psychological burdens of various Hemingways is disturbing and sometimes powerful, but the film—executive-produced by Oprah Winfrey—goes on far too long with endless rounds of introspection and dialogue re-exploring the same themes. Optional. (T. Keogh)