"Stop Dumping All Your Shit on Me" ...my thoughts on the the film 'STUTZ', dir. by Jonah Hill
The other day, during a mundane doom-scroll through my facebook timeline, I saw one my of girlfriends had posted something about “The new Jonah Hill documentary on Netflix—just, watch it.”
“…hmm. Ok, I like Jonah Hill. I’ll check it out.”
I wasn’t sure what I was expecting when I searched for it, but the trailer surprised me. It’s not actually a documentary about Jonah Hill, it’s a documentary about his therapist, Phil Stutz. Jonah Hill directed it, and the film mainly explores Stutz’ life through the lens of the method of therapy he invented.
Phil uses a series of notecards for each session with each patient, that he doodles and writes on as he’s talking with them. The main goal of his work seems to be imparting his patients with ‘tools’ to cope with mental health concerns, but also presenting them in a simple way that is easy to retain. He comes across more like a friend, rather than a doctor, but his work is clearly impactful and life-changing to his patients.
The film takes time to go over each one of the main tools he teaches, and there is a LOT of valuable information to gain from this movie. I ended up watching it twice, and taking notes.
First, I gotta say that I’m really enjoying Jonah Hill’s directorial eye. (I reallyreally enjoyed his debut Mid90s as well. If you haven’t seen that, I also highly recommend it.) Considering this is a documentary about therapy, I wasn’t expecting to be so visually captivated.. but the unique method of therapy that Phil Stutz teaches lended itself incredibly well to animation, and the way Jonah uses it to guide this story is brilliant. I am still thinking about those little doodles, days later, and I literally felt the ideas implanting into my brain immediately after seeing them. Presenting these big, life-changing tools in such a simple way is so profoundly important to our society. So many people don’t have access to therapy, or mental health services… so many people that would benefit from it.
I also want to touch on the fact that this movie is basically just a documentary of an emotional conversation between two men. and it’s an INCREDIBLY important conversation. This is something that we don’t see in media enough, and men need to know it’s okay to seek emotional support. It doesn’t make you any less than any other man. It takes a certain kind of strength to accept help, and show vulnerability. and it’s okay not to be “strong” and stoic all the time. Mental Health support matters to everyone. Especially men… & I say especially because for generations, men have been taught to repress their feelings and it has caused a lot of problems in society. Fuck—it’s even caused a lot of problems in my own family… Maybe if more little boys were shown the same compassion that little girls are, they’d be able to adequately express their emotions as adults. But until then, I really want to see more stuff like this. More stories, more honesty, more sharing, more connection.
One of the things Stutz talks about in the movie, is how relationships are like hand-holds to depressed people. You can’t climb out of a pit on your own; you need something to grab on to. You need people to offer you a grip, while you pull yourself out.
I find that to be painfully true.
At the lowest times in my life, when I felt the most lost and desperate, I can identify at least one person who came to check on me and remind me of my worth… or atleast one book, or movie, or song that reminded me it’s worth it to keep going… there has always been some kind of outside voice I have found to guide me. Regardless of how tough and strong we are, we can still find ourselves lost inside the maze of our own thoughts… everyone needs help sometimes. and that is OKAY.
On the contrary—I think it’s actually a good thing. Everyone has a dark-side they need to face at some point, in order to grow.
That is another idea that is brought up in the movie… you can never defeat your inner asshole. That inside voice of doubt… the one who tells you that you can’t do the things. Stutz calls it “Part X”, or our “shadow selves”. It will always be there. You can silence it and disable it for a while… but it will always come back around to teach you something, and to show you the areas in your subconscious that need your attention.
Stutz’ method of therapy basically just provides you with mental health tools to adequately go up to battle with your Part X.
Anyway, as if it wasn’t obvious; I highly recommend watching this movie. I’d go as far as to say it’s a “MUST WATCH”, especially during this difficult time of year. Even if you aren’t currently battling any demons, this is just an inspiring story about two men who want to help people. It’s heartwarming and visually interesting. And there is a lot to learn and a whole range of emotions to experience throughout the movie, if you are open to the journey. It’s streaming on Netflix now.
PS. I just found out there is also a book that Stutz and his partner wrote a while ago, that explains their therapeutic method in more depth. I just started reading it. It’s called ‘The Tools’ & you can find it on audible and amazon.
Peace + Love to all of you.
xo, H
