Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Side Effects (2013) - Modern people screw up in excellent thriller

10/06/2013

Side Effects (2013) - Modern people screw up in excellent thriller

♥♥♥♥♥

+ Best Thriller of the Year

Four stars with apprehensive looks are divided by a blood-red medical cross on this poster for Steven Soderbergh's Side Effects

Side Effects is Georgian master filmmaker Steven Soderbergh's (Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)) second film in 2013, the other one being Liberace-biopic Behind the Candelabra, which was also favorably reviewed by Film Excess here: Behind the Candelabra (2013) - Restraint and extravagance. It is his 24th feature.
This one is a psychological thriller about psychotropic drugs, their use, over-use and implications in America today. If it sounds like a university lecture for people with glasses, don't worry, it's not. Side Effects is a wildly successful suspense-movie.

Following a possible suicide attempt, the young wife of a convicted inside-trading perpetrator is introduced to some experimental drugs, which come with unexpected side effects.

Side Effects is also the kind of thriller where you don't want to give away an elaborate plot summary, because it would ruin too much of the ride of seeing the film. Suffice to say, Jude Law (Spy (2015)) is excellent as an over-worked but well-intentioned psychiatrist who finds himself in a serious jam; Rooney Mara (The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011)) is his patient, Catherine Zeta-Jones (The Darling Buds of May (1991-93)) is her old psychiatrist, and Channing Tatum (22 Jump Street (2014)) is her husband.
The exciting script by Scott Z. Burns (The Laundromat (2019)) has more than one unforeseen twist, which impresses along the way. If you have misgivings that Side Effects looks more like well-intended criticism of the pharmaceutical world than an exciting watch, luckily, you're wrong. (And this is perhaps a fault in its marketing.) The film does implicitly say that our over-medicated culture comes with some sick, unwanted side effects, but it goes no further than that, keeping its eye square on the thriller ball.
All the actors are safe in Soderbergh's seasoned direction, and new-comer Mara surprised me positively with her performance in a difficult role. So look out for her.
Otherwise it's a slick and very enjoyable operation: Soderbergh's own photography is as usual über-professional; the editing is sharp, the pacing perfect. And Thomas Newman's (The Judge (2014)) score is right on.

SPOILER A couple of little things annoyed me slightly in the story: There's a scene wherein some people, including Law's doctor character, sit and talk, and they just so happen to shed light on the disagreeable grease that big pharmaceutical companies sometimes use to persuade doctors to use their drugs, (expensive tickets, dinners etc.) This is not really a necessary information for the particular story, and the lines spoken felt out of place. If Burns felt that needed to be in Side Effects, it could have been handled more smoothly elsewhere, I feel.
SPOILER The other little thing is the harsh reaction of the doctor's wife, once he starts to see a tough time. This may very well be a realistic reaction from a modern married woman today, but it is depressing, and we've seen it too much in recent fiction. How about building up relationships via fiction portrayals as well sometimes, instead of always pointing out how weak and easily collapsible the modern nuclear family is? And just to be clear, that path need not compromise the film's suspense. There are multitudes of other ways the wife could have reacted besides leaving her husband immediately.
These are, in any case, minor detractors from Side Effects, which has a top-performing and very good-looking main cast and a smart, pulsating story. Don't miss it.

2013 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED VI]

2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2009 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
The Informant! (2009) - Soderbergh and Damon's terrific true-crime dramedy
Che Part One - The Argentine (2008) - Soderbergh's sober depiction of the Cuban revolution

Ocean's Twelve (2004) - Soderbergh returns with jumbled, glossy heist comedy sequel
Solaris (2002) - A suffering space question mark

2000 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess
Top 10: Best crime movies reviewed by Film Excess to date
Erin Brockovich (2000) - Roberts, Soderbergh and Grant's triumphant biopic

Check out the trailer for Side Effects here

Cost: 30 mil. $
Box office: 63.3 mil. $
= Flop (returned 2.11 times its cost)

[Side Effects premiered 31 January (New York) and runs 106 minutes. Shooting took place in New York from April - May 2012. It opened #3, behind fellow new release Identity Thief and hold-over hit Warm Bodies, to a 9.3 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it left the top 5 in its 2nd week and grossed 32.1 mil. $ (50.7 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 7.5 mil. $ (11.8 %) and France with 3.6 mil. $ (5.7 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 3.5/4 star review, equal in rating to this one. Soderbergh returned with Behind the Candelabra (2013). Mara returned in Her (2013); Tatum in G.I. Joe: Retaliation (2013); Law in Dom Hemingway (2013); and Zeta-Jones in RED 2 (2013). Side Effects is certified fresh at 82 % with a 7.30/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

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Donald Sutherland has passed away

Born in Canada, Sutherland battled polio as a child. His first credit was in Suspense (1963, TV-series) and his first film was The Castle of the Living Dead (1964). Later credits in his remarkable career include The Saint (1965-66), The Dirty Dozen (1967), M*A*S*H (1970), Kelly's Heroes (1970), Klute (1971), Don't Look Now (1973), 1900 (1976), Casanova (1976), The Eagle Has Landed (1976), Ordinary People (1980), A Dry White Season (1989), JFK (1991), Outbreak (1995), Fallen (1998), Virus (1999), Fierce People (2005), Pride & Prejudice (2005), Lord of War (2005), The Hunger Games (2012), The Undoing (2020, miniseries) and many more. He passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Roger Corman has passed away

Born in Detroit, Michigan, Corman had a sprawling, intellectually hungry life as a youth and young man before arriving with his first film in 1955, Five Guns West. He would follow that with titles such as Apache Woman, It Conquered the World, Attack of the Crab Monsters, Teenage Cave Man, A Bucket of Blood, House of Usher, The Little Shop of Horrors, The Pit and the Pendulum, The Intruder, The Raven, The Terror, The Masque of Red Death, The Tomb of Ligeia, The Wild Angels, The Trip, Bloody Mama and many more. As a producer he was behind almost 500 films. Arguably among the most important filmmakers of the 20th century, Corman passed away at age 98. R.I.P.

William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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10/06/2013

Side Effects (2013) - Modern people screw up in excellent thriller

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