Side Effects
released 2013
www.ink2quill.com

”Side Effects” is an American mystery, crime, drama, thriller film written by Scott Z. Burns and directed by Steven Soderbergh. It stars Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Polly Draper, Ann Dowd, Vladimir Versailles, Michelle Vergara Moore, David Costabile, Katie Lowes, Jacqueline Antaramian, James Martinez, Haraldo Alvarez, Marin Ireland and Carmen Pelaez. This thriller follows in the footsteps of the great Hitchcock with its twists and turns.

Check out the website at:
http://www.sideeffectsmayvary.com/

”Side Effects” is the story of a woman named Emily Taylor, played by Rooney Mara, who welcomes her husband Martin, played by Channing Tatum, home from prison. The couple seems eager to start their life over but Emily has some deep emotional/psychological issues. She sleepwalks and seems to put herself in dangerous situations when she goes into a fugue states. Her psychiatrist, Dr, Jonathan Banks, played by Jude Law, prescribes medication but she ends up doing the unthinkable. The medication and her psychiatrist are blamed. law suits and a trial follows with scapegoating and all, but just when it looks like Dr. Jonathan Banks is about to lose everything he fights back with his own investigating and things take an unexpected turn.

I liked the unexpected twists and turns that remind me of Hitchcock´s classic ”Vertigo” where nothing is as it seems. The smart and talented characters aren´t smart enough to see what is going on until after the fact and the seemingly weak and vulnerable characters are anything but. The acting is very good and I feel that Dr. Victoria Siebert, played by Catherine Zeta-Jones, should have had a larger role.

This film defifnitely made me want to go back and re-visit some classic Hitchcock. I also need to mention what a good job Jude Law did in this role. It might seem like I´m stating the obvious but he really did do a good job as the scapegoated psychiatrist turned investigator. Also the fact that Dr. Banks was never completely remunerated for his loses is very realistic of cases when someone is falsely accused. His colleagues shun him and his partners expel him from their successful practice. His marriage also suffers. It is only with the help of an honest and smart detective that Dr. Jonathan Banks is able to save what is left of his life and career and start over. It´s important to mention that a false sexual harassment allegation from his past by a disturbed patient contributed to his woes.

This is a good film worth watching. I highly recommend it.

(Commentary by www.ink2quill.com )
I2Q

I2Q Blogs / The Visual Medium effects / Hitchcock / ink2quill / law / side / tatum / vertigo / zeta /