Be careful where you put your signature! In Unsane, Steven Soderbergh’s latest film, Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy, The Crown) heads into a facility she found on the web. She is seeking a little counseling from a therapist to help her with some terrifying adjustment issues. After the appointment, she is given some paperwork to sign. Believing that it is insurance related or the like, Valentini signs the bottom line and before she knows it, she’s been admitted for a 24-hour watch in an insane asylum.
Is that not the source of a vivid nightmare or what?
Now she must plead with everyone who will listen that she is there by mistake. The more she fights, the more she is drugged and the crazier she sounds. It doesn’t help things that the entire reason she is here in Pennsylvania is because she fled Boston after a restraining order failed to curtain the terrifying efforts of a stalker.
After a settle down or you’ll never get out of here talk by Nate Hoffman (SNL’s Jay Pharoah), it seems that our girl is ready to embrace her now seven-day required stay (you know, because of all that violent freaking out) and then walk away from this nightmare.
Then, she sees what she thinks is her stalker, David Strine (Joshua Leonard). Is he or isn’t he the orderly in charge or dispensing meds at this asylum or is Valentini really losing her mind?
Soderberg, as he is known to do, excels at the pseudonym game. With Unsane, the filmmaker also serves as editor and cinematographer (using his often-used alternative monikers, Peter Andrews (cinematographer) and Mary Ann Bernard (editor). As such, he has full command of what we see on the screen… every chilling moment. What makes this film so special is that the Oscar winner, who is always seeking to expand his gifts, shoots this entire movie on his iPhone.
The filmmaking method allows the story to feel intimate, with its frequent use of close-ups and lingering shots on characters that encourages his actors to fully utilize their toolbox. It also puts the audience more front-and-center into his story, especially with the insane asylum landscape of our tale. Yes, and that elevates the raising hair on the back or your neck opportunities.
Foy is sensational. Her face and how she uses it to translate internal thoughts into a visible emotional spectrum for the viewer is uncanny. That fact comes in quite handy with this film, what with its iPhone-based means of filmmaking that often utilizes close-ups. She embodies a character that is quite timely in this age of rampant coming outs of sexual assaults and abuse that has permeated headlines for many months now. Valentini is a heroine for a time, but as most cinematic heroes we adore are, she is scarred, far-from-perfect and quite a bit in her own head. It is that latter trait that fuels the fire of this well executed thriller. What is real and what is in her head? If what is true to her, is in fact reality, this is a terror tale of the highest order.
For many of us, there has been a recurring nightmare of being in a situation where we know the truth, yet no one will listen to us or believe our calls for help. Soderbergh exploits that deep-seeded and subconscious fear in Unsane. Coupled with his intimate method of filmmaking, a smartphone, it all adds up to one scary journey that delves cripplingly into our deepest fears.
Lastly, Unsane should also inspire millions… well, if not hundreds of thousands.
The art of moviemaking has always seemed to be something just out of reach for many who aspire to create its magic. Sure, The Blair Witch Project and its ilk gave us the found footage movie and in a way that brought the possibility of filmmaking to the average soul. But, there is something uniquely stellar about what an Oscar winning director has done with his phone that should bring the beloved passion of making film an attainable reality for countless aspiring storytellers.
Grade: B+