My Beautiful Broken Brain (2014)

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

The acting in this movie is really good.

True to its essence, the characters remain on the same line and manage to entertain the viewer, each highlighting their own distinctive qualities or touches.

Loved it and Lotje is a really beautiful and interesting woman. Liked how she talked and her thinking, the whole experience and all. The fact that I couldn't rate this 10 stars is because of the editing. Sophie Robinson just tries so much that is getting harder and harder to pay attention. Yeah I got it, she wanted to do this so the watcher understand better Lotje's experience but there is just too much. Why exaggerate something that is clear all through the documentary?

I started watching this documentary without a clear idea of what a stroke is or what to expect of it. Within the first 30 minutes I was crying because of the intensity of Lotje's experience. I can't even imagine how hard it is to go through such a thing and never give up hope. I loved that she filmed a lot of it herself, even though she couldn't always explain how she felt. But you do see her evolution, not only in her recovery but also in acceptance of what is. She became conscious about her condition and about the importance of rest and tranquility in life, which is slightly different from the person she was before her stroke.This documentary is a reality-check about the severity of brain damage but also about being conscious, satisfied and grateful for your life. It teaches you the strength of human faith, even though she didn't always think she would recover - she never gave up and that is exactly what got her this far. She is an example for all of us, with a beautiful broken brain or just a regular one.

It seems people who have had experience with strokes or other brain injuries are the first to be weighing in about this film. I thought it was an excellent, commendably honest look at the confusion and frustration which are common components of the injured brain. (In my case, I experienced a fractured skull with subdural hematoma when I was just entering my teen years. It took a full year of therapy for me to fully recover.) I was spared aphasia, yet I experienced hemi-paralysis and remember vividly the cognitive distortions and unreal-seeming surprises that occurred, much as they to do the brave Lotje in the film.All in all, I thought this was an outstanding film, and wish nothing but the very best for the brave young lady who documented her experience.

As a survivor of multiple strokes including a major hemorrhagic stroke in 1999 just 13 days after my 37th Birthday and a massive hemorrhagic stroke 2011 just before Christmas I can relate to the lady in this film, I went through and I am still going through a lot of what she had experienced from her stroke. I found this movie very good at explaining what we as stroke survivors are going through. I would highly recommend this movie to people who are interested stroke experiences and want to understand what we are going through because it is truly hard for us to explain to others what it is like to live life with our beautiful broken brains.