Powerful film packed with profanity and brutality.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 25, 2010

Cheadle is excellent and gives this the true credibility it deserves.

| Apr 29, 2009

A dynamo of a movie with solid performances.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Feb 11, 2008

Anyone stumbling into the cinema halfway through would think they were watching a documentary, as Manic dispenses with all cinematic flourishes, instead aiming for and achieving absolute realism.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 30, 2006

It's an undemonstrative, vividly authentic film.

| Feb 9, 2006

This is exactly the kind of film the Dogme 95 movement was meant to inspire.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Dec 6, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Sep 9, 2005

Full Review | Original Score: 2/4 | Jul 16, 2005

Melamed's slavish devotion to frenetically moving hand-held camera shots is perplexing at first, looking like an obvious attempt at obtaining Dogme 95 credibility.

| Mar 3, 2004

Melamed takes the earnest, tastefully exploitative route.

| Jul 2, 2003

As kids-in-a-psych-ward movies go, this one pretty much follows the formula.

| Jun 6, 2003

Manic's landscape is filled with emotional thunderstorms; don't expect a sunny sky, but you might find a ray of hope.

| Original Score: 2.5/4 | Jun 1, 2003

natural and perceptive work from a cast comprised of amateurs and professionals

| Original Score: B- | May 31, 2003

Shows more hopelessness than optimism but is never less than honest.

Full Review | May 30, 2003

Its modesty of aspiration and its naturalism of style are its two most salient values.

Full Review | May 30, 2003

Gordon-Levitt explodes any expectations about him. The rage he projects is so real it becomes its own character.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | May 27, 2003

A movie of heart and substance.

| Original Score: 2/4 | May 23, 2003

I've rarely seen the hand-held, docudrama approach done with more intimacy or accuracy.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | May 23, 2003

Manic has quite a bit to recommend it as well, not the least of which is the lack of Hollywood gloss mental patients.

Full Review | Original Score: B | May 23, 2003

Melamed and his cast provide more than a few truth-divining moments.

Full Review | Original Score: 2.5/4 | May 23, 2003