
Duration | 1h 38m |
Ratings | UK: 15, USA: R, India: Not Rated |
Source of story | An original screenplay |
Director | Steven Soderbergh |
Writers/Script | Jonathan Bernstein, James Greer |
Starring | Claire Foy, Joshua Leonard, Amy Irving, Juno Temple, Matt Damon |
Ratings | IMDb: 6.4 by 38,886 people. Rotten Tomatoes: 80% by 225 critics |
Elevator Pitch: A young woman, Sawyer Valentini, who believes that she is being stalked, goes to the Highland Creek Behavioural Center for counselling, inadvertently signing a document which allows them to incarcerate her for 24 hours. When she becomes violent her term is extended, and then she sees that the man who she believes is stalking her is actually an orderly in the institution. Despite her protests no-one believes her and it is only with the help of another inmate who has a hidden cell phone that she is able to contact her mother, who comes along determined to help her. By now it seems that she may be right in her belief, but is it too late.
Content: There is no sex, although it is spoken about and the possibility of it used as a weapon. Almost the whole film inside the institution, with Sawyer and her fellow inmates in a mixed dormitory. Key moments occur when the patients have to line up to take their medication, Sawyer perceiving that the orderly doing the admin is actually the man who stalked her. But as things get worse she is imprisoned in a padded cell and eventually must rely on her wits to survive. There are flashbacks which clarify things for us.
A View: My wife and I watched this without realising that Claire Foy was quite famous for playing the queen, but we did recognise Matt Damon in a walk-on as a detective. Some of the critics thought there were plot holes and there were, particularly relating to the manner in which the institution was run. Absolutely everybody would have had to be dishonest or stupid. But all that being said the director is venerated, and apart from the young woman’s name “Sawyer” (who would call their girl baby Sawyer) it was good enough to be worth the cost of a download.
Additional Info: The whole film shot in ten days using an iPhone, which seems to give the images a sort of immediacy.
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