Review of Unsane (2018) by Ahmedaiman1999 — 07 Feb 2019

Honestly, I wanted to watch this movie just because it's shot on an iPhone. I have watched only one Soderbergh movie, and it was Logan Lucky which I didn't love as much as critics did.

And while the iPhone camera somehow helped to create a unique atmosphere that's somewhat creepy, it's Claire Foy's extraordinary performance that elevated this low-budget film, and made it a very effective horror film. Claire Foy gave the best performance I've seen this year so far.

Maybe Claire's captivating performance is the most powerful part of the movie, but there are also many other things besides her performance and the unique atmosphere the iPhone camera created. The characters are well-written and have a lot of depth. There are some sub-plots that really helped to develop the main plot and also flesh out the characters. We have some twists and turns that had been used to expand the story and make it more sophisticated. As we progress we can feel the tension increases not just because the developments of the plot, but also thanks to Soderbergh suspenseful directing.

The issue I've with Unsane, which is really a big one, that it tries to make us suspect Sawyer Valentini, and have a doubt if she was really insane or not, while I didn't feel that. I won't lie that I doubted for a couple times that may be she is insane, but that's just because the movie keep pushing me to think about this. The thing that is really strange is that Sawyer got a lot of things that really could have made me believe she is insane; she had a tragic background, a moody persona, and many other things that really could and should have worked as intended. But what I felt is nothing but sympathy for her which really worked to make me worried about her throughout the entire film, and this also worked in terms of the horror aspect.

The way the movie concluded the story is so rushed, therefore, it wasn't satisfying at all. Also, there was a sup-plot that is related to a specific character that had been harmed badly because of this rushed ending, and this character was really so important and developed the story so much.

There are also some things that hadn't been explained, and I think they were just put to manipulate the viewers and make them think they were really mean anything.

Overall, I really really loved Unsane and I was hooked throughout its 98 minutes. I don't think this iPhone technique will be revolutionary or something, but it definitely paid off.