Chances are you've seen "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" or "Clockwork Orange" and couldn't resist the voyeuristic need to know more.
Part screening, part interactive installation, "Movies on the Mind: Psychology and Film Since Sigmund Freud" grants that solemn wish. Baby of the Berlin Film Museum, the exhibit of psychological cinema is touring the world in honor of Sigmund Freud's 150th birthday; and Los Angeles is its solo American stop. I entered early on a Friday morning all by my lonesome.
When watching “What About Bob?” and reclining on a psychiatrist's couch: flashbacks of my mother telling me that wearing all black and listening to The Cure was enough reason for me endure a shrink who reeked of chicken tikka masala. Next thing I know, three televisions were delivering fragments of the scariest...films...ever. When I entered a tiny theatre, the tearful scene from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was playing. Almost upon reflex, as Holly Golightly loses Cat and realizes her love for Fred, I reach for tissues. And they're actually sitting on the seat beside me.
Towards the end, I stumbled upon glass display boxes housing Alfred Hitchcock's handwritten notes on "Psycho" and correspondence between Sigmund Freud and Charles Chaplin. Having battered my eyes and ears with every kind of psychological assault, one thing was clear: crazy sure does make a good movie.
Where: Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
8949 Wilshire Blvd. - 4th Floor, Beverly Hills
When: Open Tuesdays - Sundays, through September 16th
Why: Free admission, and the best way to scramble your brain without peyote.
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