Anxiety is nothing new, but in 2024 it was a star character in several of the films and TV shows that caught my interest. Sometimes anxiety was literally its own character, like the orange tuft in “Inside Out.” Sometimes it was the state in which we find a character, like Rishi in “Industry.” Sometimes it’s openly named, and other times it’s just implied. Below I take a look at the most affecting portrayals of anxiety I found onscreen this year.
‘Inside Out 2’
I’ve already written about the effect that “Inside Out 2” had on me when I saw it in theaters, and yet it’s worth repeating that this film, featuring a new host of personified emotions like Anxiety (voiced by Maya Hawke), is worth watching not just for the usual bright and cheery Pixar charms, but also for its honest portrayal of anxiety. Streaming on Disney+.
‘The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy’
This clever, imaginative and viscerally odd Amazon series, in the same vein as “Tuca & Bertie,” is about two young alien doctors and best friends, Sleech (Stephanie Hsu) and Klak (Keke Palmer), who work in a futuristic space-hospital where their patients are aliens of various shapes and sizes who have strange and unpredictable ailments. When Sleech and Klak discover a parasite that feeds on anxiety, they secretly attempt to use it to discover a cure for the affliction. Klak, who has struggled with anxiety her whole life, experiments with the parasite to the point of endangering herself because she is tired of getting lost in her obsessive thoughts and brooding over her failures. Alongside “Inside Out 2,” Klak’s journey in the first season of “The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy” is the most effective portrayal of anxiety in entertainment this year. Streaming on Amazon Prime.
‘The Bear’
“The Bear” is widely accepted as the anxiety-inducing show on TV right now, and for good reason. The restaurant world is already fast-paced and stressful without all the pressure Carmy (Jeremy Allen White) places on himself and his co-workers in the opening weeks of his restaurant’s rebrand and glow-up. And though Carmy’s anxiety is often at the forefront of the drama, the final episode of Season 3 shows Sydney (Ayo Edebiri) meeting her limit as well. Agonizing over a decision to become a partner of The Bear with Carmy the control freak or take a head chef position at another restaurant with better benefits and (likely) less drama, Sydney breaks down in the middle of a party at her new home. She steps outside and has an anxiety attack; she hunches over, hyperventilating, overwhelmed by the decision she has to make. Streaming on Hulu.
‘Turtles All the Way Down’
In an early scene in this YA-friendly adaptation of the John Green novel, a high schooler named Aya sits distracted as her friends around her converse. A voice-over reveals her nervous parade of thoughts about threatening microorganisms and diseases, and she runs off to the bathroom to obsessively wash and re-bandage a sore on her finger. Green is notorious for a certain brand of weepy adolescent fiction, but here he dives into an honest depiction of a teen with debilitating anxiety and O.C.D. Streaming on Max.
‘A Real Pain’
In this film, written and directed by Jessie Eisenberg, cousins Benji and David go on a Holocaust history tour of Poland. Kieran Culkin draws the camera in as Benji, an unpredictable, confrontational and yet tragically empathetic man who has been bowled over by grief. Our view of Benji is framed by Eisenberg’s character, David. David is much more reserved and openly anxious; he takes his O.C.D. meds in the morning and makes an absurd number of neurotic check-in phone calls on the way to the airport. To some extent David’s sense of isolation from others, and the emotional weight he carries, mirrors Benji’s, but also represents a quieter form of anxiety. In theaters now.
‘Industry’
“I’m tired of living with the stress of this. It’s not good for my, like … mental health,” a Pierpoint employee haltingly says in the “Industry” Season 3 episode “White Mischief.” He’s speaking to Rishi (Sagar Radia), the abrasive, foul-mouthed market maker who has put them both at risk by gambling with hundreds of millions dollars. Rishi’s incredulous response: “Your what?” Several characters in the series, a drama about a group of young professionals fighting for prestige at a competitive investment bank, are crushed by the pressures of this toxic capitalistic industry, but “White Mischief” focuses on the self-destructive spiral that Rishi finds himself in as he becomes increasingly reckless with his job and his family life, all while dealing with H.R. complications and microaggressions within his wife’s wealthy white community. Radia’s performance perfectly swings between Rishi’s elation from each gambler’s high and the desperate anxiety of a man whose hand of cards has lost again. Streaming on Max.
‘Janet Planet’
This quiet film about connection and isolation captures the relationship between a young girl named Lacy (Zoe Ziegler) and her mother, Janet (Julianne Nicholson), as well as the relationship between Janet and the friends and lovers who join them one summer. Lacy approaches the world with a sense of trepidation, even anxiety, particularly when it comes to other people. She tells her mother that she’s unhappy and worries about her ability to make friends. That’s part of why Lacy so ardently craves her mother’s attention. Her seemingly ever-present gaze, always a bit curious and concerned, catches everything, including the realities behind Janet’s relationships to others. Streaming on Max.
‘The Sex Lives of College Girls’
In the third season of this irresistible comedy series, Whitney (Alyah Chanelle Scott), the jock, STEM major and daughter of a U.S. senator, pushes herself to be the perfect student and athlete, even if it means cutting out sleep. She schedules every minute of her day, pounding protein bars and coffee to fuel her through hours of soccer practice and labs. She doesn’t suspect she has a problem until her new friend with benefits, Isaiah, points out that she may suffer from anxiety — an observation that encourages Whitney to consider seeking mental health help. Streaming on Max.
The post In a Year of Anxiety Onscreen, Here’s Who Portrayed It Best. appeared first on New York Times.
