Film
Stutz
Jonah Hill sits down with his therapist Phil Stutz for an intimate documentary about mental health, anxiety, and the visual tools Stutz uses to help people navigate their inner lives. It's warm and funny without being flippant, shaped like a conversation between friends rather than a clinical lecture. For anyone curious about therapy, wrestling with their own head, or just wanting to watch two people talk honestly.
Should you watch it?
Watch it if you like intimate, talky documentaries where the emotional weight comes from one man's memories and the visual diagrams he uses to explain how he thinks about the mind.
Skip it if you want a documentary with momentum, since this is mostly two men in conversation, and the self-help framing may feel thin if it does not already interest you.
What it asks of you: Ninety-six minutes of unhurried talk, with long stretches of reflection rather than scene-building; it pays off for patience more than for quick attention.
Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.
If you liked this
Roadrunner: A Film About Anthony Bourdain2021
A documentary that goes inward, exploring a person's complexity rather than flattering their public image. It's serious and searching, a portrait of someone trying to understand themselves and often failing.
But It's heavy. The subject's depression and death hang over everything, and the film doesn't shy from the sadness.
The Larry Sanders Show1992
A sitcom about performance, anxiety, and the gap between who we are on camera and off. It finds comedy in vulnerability and the constant negotiation between ego and insecurity—very much Stutz's territory.
But It's a 1990s show, so the production values feel dated, and the humour is character-driven rather than punchline-driven, which won't land if you're looking for easy laughs.
Moonlight2016
Three chapters in the life of a man learning to see himself clearly, often through the eyes of others. It's about identity, shame, and the long work of becoming who you are—visual and quiet and profound.
But It's slow and painterly, with very little dialogue. If you need a plot to drive you forward, this will feel like watching paint dry.
Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Stutz
The wildcard
Something you would not have found on your own.
Synecdoche, New York2008
Both are documents of the self trying to understand itself. Stutz uses visual tools and conversation; Kaufman uses cinema as the tool. Both are saying: this is what it looks like inside your own head.
Charlie Kaufman's masterpiece is a film about the attempt to understand yourself through art and performance, shot through with anxiety, failure, and the question of whether therapy or creation can ever actually heal. It's visually inventive and deeply strange.
But It's aggressively experimental, three hours long, and deliberately confusing. The narrative fractures and loops; you may leave more confused than when you arrived.
More like this (6)
Nope2022
A brilliant genre film that's also a portrait of anxiety and the human impulse to document horror rather than flee it. It works as entertainment and as psychology, both at once.
But It's a genre film first, so if you don't like sci-fi horror, the conceptual stuff won't make up for the scares and violence.
Transparent2014
A family drama that sits with complicated feelings and refuses to resolve them neatly. Everyone is trying to understand themselves and each other, and mostly they're failing—but the attempt is the whole story.
But It can feel like homework. The pacing is deliberate, there are no easy wins, and sometimes the characters are so in their heads they're hard to root for.
Inside Out2015
An animated film that treats the inner life seriously, visualizing emotions and memory the way Stutz does. It's funny and moving and genuinely insightful about how our brains work and what we owe ourselves.
But It's a Pixar film aimed at kids, so if you're looking for something dense or challenging, the accessibility might feel reductive.
Unfaithful2002
A domestic thriller that's really about the gap between who we think we are and who we actually are, filmed with real style and tension. It asks serious questions about desire, identity, and self-deception.
But It's a somewhat trashy adult thriller with explicit content, and the plot leans toward melodrama—if you want subtlety, look elsewhere.
An Angel at My Table1990
Both trace the journey toward self-understanding and the often painful gap between how others see you and how you see yourself. Both are fundamentally kind about the struggle.
Jane Campion's film about the New Zealand writer Janet Frame is a portrait of someone learning to see herself through the prism of her own work and the world's misunderstanding of her. It's tender, intelligent, and visually gorgeous.
But It's a three-part miniseries adapted from an autobiography—slow, interior, and resolutely biographical rather than dramatic. Not a movie that moves fast.
Synesthesia2014
Both are documentaries about making the invisible visible—about how to represent what's happening in the mind through visual metaphor and creative representation. Both believe that the image can teach you something that words alone cannot.
A sensory documentary about the neurological condition where senses cross over—sound becomes color, numbers have personalities. It's as visually inventive as Stutz but aimed at understanding the brain through art and experience rather than therapy.
But It's not narrative; it's a series of impressionistic sequences and interviews. If you need story structure, you'll find it frustratingly abstract and slow.
People
Cast
Jonah HillSelf
Phil StutzSelf
Directing
- Jonah HillDirector
Production
- James WilsonExecutive Producer
- Nicholas RamirezExecutive Producer
- Rooney MaraExecutive Producer
- Alison GoodwinProducer
- Chelsea BarnardProducer
- Diane BeckerProducer
- Joaquin PhoenixProducer
- Jonah HillProducer
- Mark MonroeProducer
- Matt DinesProducer
- Melanie MillerProducer