SummaryTwo poets (Katie Homes and Luke Kirby) with bipolar disorder meet in a treatment facility, and their chemistry is instant and intense, driving each other's mania to new heights. They pursue their passion which breaks outside the bounds of sanity, swinging them from fantastical highs to tormented lows until they ultimately must choose between sani... Read More
Directed By:Paul Dalio
Written By:Paul Dalio
Touched With Fire
Metascore
Generally Favorable
62
User score
Mixed or Average
4.8
My Score
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Top Cast
Metascore
Generally Favorable
59% Positive
10 Reviews
10 Reviews
41% Mixed
7 Reviews
7 Reviews
0% Negative
0 Reviews
0 Reviews
Feb 11, 2016
90
Touched With Fire is an actor’s field day, and both Mr. Kirby and Ms. Holmes boldly meet the challenge of playing bright, high-strung artists struggling with depression.
Feb 11, 2016
70
Writer-director Dalio has firsthand experience with bipolar disorder, and his perspective sheds fresh light on the unique ways in which manic-depressive individuals experience love and creativity.
User score
Mixed or Average
33% Positive
4 Ratings
4 Ratings
42% Mixed
5 Ratings
5 Ratings
25% Negative
3 Ratings
3 Ratings
Feb 19, 2016
9
Katie Holmes give the performance of her LIFE. I was really impressed. With the movie not that much but it is still good. I just thought some of the metaphors were heavy handed and the editing was a bit all over the place at times. But I give major props for how authentic the depiction of bipolar is in this film. Overall very compelling.
Feb 9, 2016
70
With high spirits and great tenderness, Dalio and his actors stir up what might be the greatest of youthful feelings: that as you get to know someone new, someone whose thinking rhymes with yours, you're also becoming ever more yourself.
Feb 18, 2016
63
Touched With Fire is by no means a perfect film. The production values and melodrama sometimes seem better suited for a small-screen movie. But the drama deserves points for its measured, realistic view of mental illness.
Feb 9, 2016
60
The film embraces ambiguity in the end, with a coda that places Marco and Carla on the same level but not in the same place. The scene's unsettled but peaceful mood seems an honest reflection of its characters' lives.
Feb 11, 2016
50
Unlike its protagonists, Touched with Fire never reaches either impressive highs or awful lows. It’s a film that is capably made in most respects, particularly in its acting and visuals, but it’s not truly successful.
Feb 8, 2016
50
The film is a thinly dramatized series of arguments against, then ultimately in favor of the medication of bipolar disorder.
Feb 28, 2016
4
A movie about a young poet (Katie Holmes) suffering from bipolar disorder sounds sufficiently complex. Toss in a 2nd tortured bipolar poet (Luke Kirby), who she meets at a treatment facility. Pairing them as they try to make a life together could be a fascinating examination of their mental illness. And there are some interesting moments (plus a few unoriginal flights of imagination). The reality is that it's slow-moving and self-indulgent. The leads are competent, but never really break out or break our hearts. The dispassionate direction and repetitive screenplay don't add much value. Ultimately it becomes an informational assessment of bipolar disorder stuffed into a mediocre romantic drama.
Production Company:
- 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks
Release Date:Feb 12, 2016
Duration:1 h 46 m
Rating:R
Website:
Awards
Woodstock Film Festival
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
SAMHSA Voice Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
IndieFEST Film Awards
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
