Famous for his all-over-the-map filmmaking (Traffic, Erin Brokovich, Magic Mike, Oceans 11) Oscar winning director, Steven Soderbergh, takes his “supposed” retirement to a new level. In this slick suspenseful film, Soderbergh taps into his Hitchcock-ian abilities in a story about Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) a young woman victimized by the world of prescriptions and their addictions.
When the story open, she’s awaiting the prison-release of her husband (Channing Tatum) who served four years for inside trading. This crime cost them their pricey life in Greenwich and ever since she’s been working in Manhattan. With his return home, Emily shifts into depression mode when she ought to be happy. She wanders around hopelessly and begins to consider suicide before seeking the medical help of Dr Jonathan Banks (Jude Law) who prescribes her more drugs to solve her various issues (Or in other words “One pill makes you larger, and one pill makes you small… Go ask Alice.”) But before Dr Banks, there was Emily’s Greenwich doctor (Catherine Zeta Jones) who is now involved in various studies that go beyond the usual Zoloft or Prozac. This is the mother of all drugs…this is Ablixa. And Zeta Jones struts around in her sexy lab coat, tight bun and glasses seeming more Victoria Secret model than serious physician.
It seems at first the film is going to challenge the prescription drug industry and that Jude Law might be the Erin Brokovich of
pill popping phsyician pioneers. Then it seems a bit like Traffic or Contagion – both Soderbergh movies – mixing up the many components that somehow weave together. But beyond merging his various films, Soderbergh even utilizes actors from his past movies (Tatum – Magic Mike, Zeta Jones –Oceans etc.)
But as the film seemingly slips into another movie about midway through, it’s Rooney Mara first seen in The Girl with the Dragon
Tattoo who holds her own, transforming her character deeper into every surprising noir moment. This is fascinating since she spends most of the film beating to her own drum, lost in her own zone, stumbling about as to who might rescue her while at the same time exhibiting some mystery we’re not quite certain of (until the twisted end.) No matter what you think of the movie, you’ll come out wondering at what point in life aren’t we allowed to feel sad if someone dies, depressed if someone divorces, or worried about our jobs. When did medication become a crutch for something that may have been solved with simple meditation? Three tiaras