The Naked Room

Youths who are struggling with mental illness take center stage in Nuria Ibañéz's fly-on-the-wall documentary that revolves around intake conversations between patients and unseen psychiatrists in a Mexico City clinic (the voices of parents also sometimes appear on the audio track). The kids range from grade school students to teenagers, with issues such as anxiety, bed-wetting, and self-harm. One little boy simply listens while his father talks about his recent behavior, which includes squeezing toothpaste onto the bathroom floor, and leaving bags of excrement around the house. One patient is so upset she can't talk, although she eventually opens up about a suicide attempt. Another describes the moments before and after a rape; here, the psychiatrist doesn't press for details she isn't yet ready to discuss, but her religious father's belief that she's in some way responsible is only making a bad situation worse. A young man who has been lashing out at his mother also acknowledges sexual abuse in his past. Cinematographer Ernesto Pardo's camera focuses on the subjects' faces the entire time, which is dramatically compelling, but also feels invasive. Although the end credits don't make it clear, Ibañéz must have received clearances from both the clinic and the parents, but even officially-sanctioned filming raises ethical questions, given that therapy traditionally entails privacy and confidentiality (we don't even know whether the kids knew they were being filmed). Still, this is an often fascinating documentary in which the filmmaker's non-judgmental approach serves the material well. Recommended. Aud: C, P. (K. Fennessy)