I want to start by saying that I do like this movie because I have to do some bitching before I get into the positives. I was fully prepared to hate this because it is the first (I think) theatrically-released movie that was filmed completely on an iPhone. That fucking pisses me off. It’s a complete affront to filmmaking and fuels my growing hatred of modern technology. Advanced technology is supposed to make things better, yet we have now gone from movies filmed in 70mm film and projected in massive cinemascope to movies that are shot on something that you have in your pocket. People need to stop thinking that “better” and “more convenient” are the same thing because they fucking aren’t. I expected this movie to look like shit and, sure enough, it does look like shit. The entire movie is shot from a handful of still angles, the lighting is weird and the image is clearly not meant for a theatrical screen. If you remember what it was like to watch a widescreen movie on an old square-shaped tv, this is kind of like that except the black bars are on the sides of the image instead of the top and bottom. I constantly found myself irritated by the very pictures that I was watching and that’s a shame because, underneath the bullshit production and aesthetics, Unsane is a decent thriller.
Claire Foy plays Sawyer, who goes to a psychiatrist to discuss her depression and is promptly committed to a psychiatric hospital against her wishes. While she tries to convince everyone that she isn’t crazy, she discovers that her problem isn’t unique. The hospital has two kinds of patients: those that are legitimately nuts and those that are fine but are being held there so that the hospital can collect payments from their insurance provider. Additionally, Sawyer has had issues with a stalker and it seems that the stalker has followed her and gotten a job at the hospital. Then the movie spends much time playing on the whole “is she really crazy or not?” motif and it does a good job of it. The plot is strongly reminiscent of an obscure slasher movie from the early 80s called Hospital Massacre (also known as Be My Valentine or Else, aka X-Ray, aka Ward 13). If you have actually seen that movie, you have earned yourself 20 Dooney points. Points are redeemable at the bar.
Yeah, the plot is ridiculous. I understand that it’s playing off modern distrust of the healthcare industry, but this is fucking pushing it. I don’t think that insurance companies will typically insist on paying for expensive treatments without bothering to consult with either doctors or their customer. I’ve typically found that insurance companies are actually reluctant to pay large sums of money. But if you can suspend your disbelief, the film does work well enough and plays off of some legitimate fears. For anyone that has ever had issues with depression, the idea of being committed for merely mentioning it is fucking nightmare fuel. The stalker angle is also well-done and surprisingly restrained for the most part; the villain never becomes an over-the-top slasher and his understated craziness makes the film even more uneasy. The whole thing is anchored by an excellent performance by Claire Foy (who I was not previously familiar with), as she creates a highly sympathetic character infused with just enough ambiguity to fill the audience with some doubt about her mental state. It’s a thriller that relies more on character and mood than cheap jump scares, which is refreshing.
I don’t have much to say about this other than that it’s a solid little thriller that does more with its material that I expected it to. If you can get past how shitty it looks (and I’m admittedly harping on that more than most people would), I would recommend checking it out. It’s not worth running to the theater (and I think its mostly out of theaters already anyway), but its worth a watch at home one night if you have nothing to do. Director Steven Soderbergh is best known for making Ocean’s 11 and its sequels, so he is a decent director and does know how to make a movie look like an actual movie (this even has a surprising cameo from a major member of the Ocean’s cast). I just hope that he never makes a movie this way again. I know that it’s a cheap way to make a movie, but this script deserved better treatment.
Image By: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsane#/media/File:Unsane_(film).png
