A couple weeks ago, a friend expressed his desire to watch a movie with me because he thought it would be a very different experience. I think he was expecting to see me show up to a cinema with notebook and pen in hand to jot down notes for my reviews, but I very rarely write down anything at all when preparing to write one. I do however, do some brainstorming in my head- working out different approaches to each film. Normally I'm spot on in the first hour of the movie in what I expect I'll say, that was until a couple weeks ago when I saw Steven Soderbergh's latest work entitled Side Effects.
In fact, such was the complex nature of this drama, complete with plot twists bold enough to shock even the most jaded of moviegoers, that it is actually hard to even describe what this film is about without giving away parts of the film that are extremely important. I guess the most inoffensive summary I can give you is that Side Effects is a drama about a troubled young woman named Emily (Rooney Mara) who experiences some ridiculously disturbing results after she takes a drug prescribed by her new psychiatrist (Jude Law) to combat her depression. Such a summary actually well describes my initial attitudes towards the film about a quarter of the way through its viewing. Here, I thought, was a rather stark social commentary about our medical system and the cronyism involved between doctors and the drug industry. It was perfect fodder for a great review; I would talk about the quality of the movie and then segue into some meaningful paragraph about the commercialization of medicinal products. Hell, one of Side Effects' leads Catherine Zeta-Jones even suffers from bipolar disorder. A great film about a pertinent issue inspiring a great review. But it was not to be, and the film's sharp turn in direction is something that I could have only expected from someone like Soderbergh, whose CV includes some of my all-time favourites.
Side Effects may soon be added to that list of Soderbergh gems, with literally every aspect of the film working extremely well. I've never been much for the whole maniacally crazy routine, but Rooney Mara was probably as good in this film as I've ever seen her. There is a classic Hitchcock-femme-fatale quality about her facial expressions that makes it all the more effective when she zips from emotion to emotion throughout the film. Mara can be angry, vulnerable, sincere, then snide all at different times during a two-minute conversation without it ever seeming forced or over-dramatic. Jude Law also puts in a great performance, which coincidentally is the first leading role he's had in a while that actually lets him use his natural English accent. As an Englishman myself, I may be biased, but I'm pretty sure the droves of women who worship these actors won't mind if they use their real accents. How much more badass would Idris Elba's character in Prometheus have been if he had been allowed to let that East London slang come through? Fortunately, with Side Effects that is not a question we have to ponder, and besides his usual amount of charm, Law adds a dose of his dramatic flair as as the psychiatrist.
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| They originally wanted to hire Blake Lively as the lead...madness |
The real cornerstones of this film are the direction and screenplay, which seem like such a breath of fresh air. The plot twists never seem mechanical, the suspense never dulls and more importantly Soderbergh never feels the need to spoon feed everything to you. There are clues along the away that can tip-off the most observant of viewers, but the resolutions to so many of the film's questions don't get answered until they absolutely have to be. This makes Side Effects a great movie to watch with a bunch of friends because everyone will react in different ways based on how many of those clues they have picked up. Any of us that have watched The Walking Dead this season (slight spoiler alert ahead) know that balancing plot twists with unstable characters is no easy task, and I think I appreciate Soderbergh's subtleties even more as a result.
We all know that 2012 was one of the best years for movies ever, but now it almost seems like Hollywood is hungover from all the past year's revelries and successes. There are plenty of movies to get excited about in 2013, but these past couple months have been rather event-less apart from Warm Bodies. Personally, I left the Christmas season feeling rather drained from having seen and reviewed so many awesome movies, but Side Effects is just the dose of aspirin I needed and the best film of 2013 I've seen so far.
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