"Bake it till You Make it", review

Jason Taglieri

"Bake it till You Make it" is a documentary by Jason Taglieri, which tells us the incredible evolution of Dayna Altman. For 90 minutes, we learned how, from fighting a depression, Dayna went on to run her own mental health company.   

Interviews with her family help us understand a little of her childhood because, if we look at the story only superficially, it can be difficult to relate cooking activities to mental health. Dayna herself tells us about how she wrote four books that positioned her very well in the publishing market.

I will not reveal the script in detail, because the film is as interesting as a mystery. But imagine an eating disorder, a passion for cooking, and a true intention to help. Then imagine a museum displaying paintings and poems by Dayna’s apprentices, and a talk at an MTV Youth Action Forum in the White House. Epic! It’s in the White House that she meets Thea Touchton, who later produces this documentary.

Jason Taglieri (New Vintage Media Co) is directing for the first time a documentary with "Bake it till You Make it." It turns out to be a motivational experiment in the sense that it encourages the viewer to form their own company, to be independent, to achieve all of that which they believe. Dayna is actually an example. As she says: "if she can, we all can".

We cannot qualify this documentary only as a biographical film, because it is more than that. It fulfills a more advanced mission. It bring out mental illness out of the stigma. Beautifully narrated by Thea, who has extensive experience (Shrinking, The Big Noir, It’s Cassie, Cedar Sequoia International, Spider-Man: No Way Home).

Actually, "Bake it till You Make it" may be the taste of a delicious dessert to viewers who discover how much they have learned about themselves through the story of Dayna Altman. It is an excellent documentary that will transcend its presence in inter festivals.