Daytime Tiger (2011)

Daytime Tiger is the result of an invitation from prolific NZ writer and poet Michael Morrissey, for film-maker Costa Botes to come into his home and document his struggle with manic depression.

Costa Botes’ portrait of New Zealand writer Michael Morrissey is indeed a tiger-ride – an up-close encounter with an extremely intelligent man in the grip of bipolar disorder. It’s also a harrowing portrait of marriage vows tested to the extreme. Morrissey was diagnosed with manic depression in 1999 but long rejected available medication, believing it would stymie his genius. Having failed to find a publisher for his written account, he invited the filmmaker into his house to record his battle to ‘tame the tiger’ through willpower.

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