Twisted

In 1972, at the age of 17, filmmaker Laurel Chiten (Twitch & Shout, VL-1/96) was in a car accident that left her with an assortment of odd symptoms, including a tendency to occasionally nod her head up and down uncontrollably. Years later, Chiten was diagnosed with dystonia, a neurological disorder believed to affect some 300,000 in the U.S., defined by the American Heritage Dictionary as “abnormal tonicity of muscle, characterized by prolonged, repetitive muscle contractions that may cause twisting or jerking movements of the body or a body part.” In Twisted, Chiten follows the stories of a handful of people with various degrees of debilitating symptoms who struggle to cope with the condition, including otherwise physically fit basketball coach Pat Brogan, whose frustration over not being able to stop his head from turning to the side on bad days is both heartbreaking and career-threatening; Shari Tritt, who has generalized dystonia and uses sign language to make herself understood by everyone other than her husband Ira, whom she met online through a Jewish single chat room; and Remy Campbell, a kind of bionic woman who walked bent over at the waist until she underwent a treatment called deep brain stimulation involving electrical implants and an embedded chest switch that she can turn on and off with a remote (when it's on, she walks upright, when it's off she slowly contracts toward the ground like a mechanical doll—a truly bizarre sight). Featuring interviews with dystonia sufferers, family and friends, as well as physicians, Twisted—which deftly interweaves animation and special effects throughout—is anything but a dry medical documentary, serving up an equal mix of laughter and tears in its insightful look at this complex, puzzling condition. Highly recommended. Aud: C, P. (R. Pitman)