by Joe Hammerschmidt
I cannot say much at the moment regarding the overall body of work for work-oriented director Steven Soderburgh, knowing my only two forays into his work involved slightly fluffy scripts that could still carry a deeper philosophical meaning. Magic Mike shared an off-the-cuff of humanistic vulnerability one couldn’t expect, while the Liberace biopic Behind the Candelabra went opted for a symbolic poignancy between a figure of the public consciousness and his long-scrutinized private life. His second film in a current 12-month span following the middling Logan Lucky, he makes an oddly satisfying comeback to a cold-nosed psych ward thriller, carrying The Crown’s Claire Foy in tow for one heck of a breakout role.
Unsane follows a tall spiral into troubling madness through one Sawyer Valentini (Foy), a hard-working career woman just getting started on her next chapter in Boston, attempting to escape a rough relationship-turned-stalker-affront with presumed mental case David Strine (Josh Leonard). Once her wayward assistant during pre-med training, this ex just could never get Sawyer out of his mind, the blocked numbers and total disconnection was never the right read. Matters only escalate when a support group pre-interview with an intently listening psychologist, suddenly changes tone into a captive hold at an upstate psych treatment facility.
At times, I was bemused enough to accept everything revolving around her, the strict seven-day psychiatric hold may have been blown out of proportion for dramatic effect, yet when the pieces fit, the whole thing runs smoothly, due in part to Soderbergh’s directing, and a script helmed by the least likeliest of writers to tackle a high brummage of subject matter. The duo of James Greer and Jonathan Bernstein, best known (perhaps infamously) for cinematic “treasures” like Just My Luck and The Spy Next Door, take a crack with a more reputable, relevant concept and roll with each punch like it were a nudge in a forward direction. Leave it to Soderbergh to discover fresh new talent for the genre, his eyes always looking for the best way to work around a challenging plot.
Central to that is his brash choice in camera use and placement, as his own cinematographer, credited under a pseudonym. Soderbergh, ever the mad genius, structures his motifs like the budget had run out before shooting, relying heavily on many an iPhone to attain key character shots, both personal close-up and further away wide shots. All throughout the picture, seeing this process at work was almost maddening, if not a trifle sickening just because films with the same type of shooting structure failed to impress me. A challenge dear Steven solves, then utilizes to full dramatic effect primarily with the plight of the two leads.
Leonard and Foy will almost appear like the next door couple you’d worry a little for; their unique obsessive ideals never get in the way of their professionalism. Her own ennui does reach a critical exhaustion point before the tailend, rewarded with an expertly shot argument scene, in solitary confinement of all places. Of course, we keep panning back and forth between Sawyer and David like they’re trying to reconcile, though it’s more like therapy-style confrontation, making sense of those demons and quashing them. A power couple with issues, yet they wear them well, perhaps as a representation that we can look beyond unbalanced representation between genders in work and at a private life. All of this, despite the fact that the horror movie motif overwhelms everything else.
To that end, the supporting cast Steven populates the rest of the asylum with is no less a spotless running track. Jay Pharoah, formerly one of the darlings on SNL outshines in his scenes as the quiet Nate, a former opium addict and old friend of Sawyer’s, just trying to stay clean and always out of trouble. As far as he goes, he’s a natural hero in his own right. Not so much Violet (Juno Temple at her most energetic, a large step up from her lead in Wonder Wheel), the near sex-crazed schizophrenic patient unable to keep her own emotions in check. Do keep an eye open for an appropriately Soderberghian cameo in a key flashback scene, along with Amy Irvine as a willing champion, Sawyer’s caring mother.
It was impossible to imagine or expect how I’d take a film like Unsane; one of those cases where “the less seen, the better” works to its advantage. All of the noted surprises just leaping out at a viewer like a jump scare with a purpose, and Soderbergh takes each one to really unpack his thematic drivers, ranging as far and wide as healthcare, and as close to home as the #MeToo movement. Somehow, it ties in with its purposeful edge, and pleases fans of the intended aesthetic with nothing less than gripping intensity. Still, it’s difficult to recommend if one isn’t a hardcore horror or Soderbergh fan. Everyone in the middle should be prepared to take in a near-nightmarish escape film, bitter, bloody and sadistic til the very end. And also, awash with plenty of blue, plenty of it to bookend this potential crowdpleaser. (B+)
Unsane is in most area theaters this weekend; rated R for disturbing behavior, violence, language and sexual references; 98 minutes.
