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Indie auteur Steven Soderbergh’s latest film is a ground-breaking experiment in method, tone and sheer minimalism.  While ‘Unsane’ may not the first film shot entirely with an iPhone, it is the first to garner a nationwide (albeit limited) release and much media attention thanks to the reputation and prestige of its director. Now there’s probably going to be legions of wannabe film-makers with smartphones thinking they’re the next Spielberg.  God help us.

 

On the surface, ‘Unsane’ is the story of a young woman named Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy) whose visit to a psychiatrist turns into her worst (non-Kaiju, that is) nightmare as she found herself institutionalized against her will.  Haven’t we seen all this before in films like ‘Shutter Island’ and ‘A Cure for Wellness,’ you ask?  Well, not quite.  Like other Soderbergh movies, nothing is quite as it seems on the surface and the answers as to whether Ms. Valentini’s fears are real or was she simply imagining things (all in her head) are only revealed slowly as the tale unfolds.

 

The strength of ‘Unsane’ isn’t the story itself, which is simplistic and formulaic, reminiscent of the works of Alfred Hitchcock, Stephen King and even Brian De Palma.  What made ‘Unsane’ work and even effective is the execution and mastery in setting tone and atmosphere, which made this throwback '70s style thriller an exercise in slow-building tension and suspense.  This is even more remarkable for the fact that Foy’s character, whom she portrayed superbly in an intense and focused performance, is a singularly unlikeable and unsympathetic protagonist.

Grade: A-