MYST #1: Side Effects

AN INITIAL WARNING: I tried my best to avoid any plot specific spoilers within this review; however, intuition could reveal anything. If plot is important to you, you've been warned.

So yeah, this movie kind of came out of nowhere. I think it's only fair, if I am going to judge this film, to disclose that I started it at one in the morning, pretty much grasping at straws in choosing it as an MYST due to the lateness of the hour. Reliable Netflix, of course, briefly informed me that the movie was actually directed by Steven Soderbergh and starred several A-List actors (including Rooney Mara and three Soderbergh film alums: Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Jude Law) that provided an intriguing combination. With that, I suppose I was sold.
"Side Effects" is a slow-burning thriller centering around the story of Emily Taylor (Mara), a depressed, blank-faced twenty-something woman with a substantial history of emotional trauma. Emily's husband, Martin (Tatum), has just been released from prison, and, despite an initial joyous reunion and promises of future affluence, is surprised to find that his wife's mental condition hasn't improved; shortly after his arrival home, Emily has made an attempt on her life. While in the hospital, Emily meets the prolific and kind psychiatrist Dr. Jonathan Banks (Law), who works extra hours at the hospital and is designated to treat Emily for her depression issues. Immediately, Emily is put on anti-depressants, but these quickly prove to be ineffective as she once again tries to take her life. Banks, in consulting with Emily's former psychiatrist, Dr. Victoria Siebert (Zeta-Jones), for some help, is recommended to prescribe the experimental drug "Ablixa" for treating depression. Soon enough, and despite Banks' initial hesitation, Emily is on the drug and is feeling better than ever, until the drug's sleepwalking side effect causes her to commit an unconscious crime that throws both her and Banks under a spotlight that threatens to unravel their lives.

The movie shines when it's chronicling Emily's continuing path downwards, a spiral in which the drugs prescribed to help her instead throw her deeper into a world of confusion and grief. Mara turns out an excellent performance that, despite often requiring little emotion, opens a portal into a mindset of choking melancholy and confusion, with brilliant close-up work constantly creating a claustrophobic and surreal atmosphere for the first half of the film. It succeeds in lulling the viewer into a dream-like stupor where, much like Emily, the viewer is transfixed by the world presented to them, given in over-saturated hues and quick cuts between slow-moving, contemplative shots. Mara is definitely the star of the film for the first half, holding most of the attention as the victim of her own treatment.
This is not to say, however, that there are not other great performances. Jude Law is great as always, here driven to morally questionable actions as he desperately attempts to wipe away his guilt of having administered the drug (and falls into a little insanity himself). Catherine Zeta-Jones doesn't really get to show her stuff until the latter half of the film, which is unfortunate, considering she does a fantastic job as Banks' shifty peer. When she does gain center stage, ever so briefly, she steals the show.
This latter half that I've been mentioning is my (arbitrary) splitting of the movie in two parts,the first being the part heavily focused on Emily and her state of mind as she experiences her plight, and the second being more focused on Dr. Banks and his journey to expel his worries and clean his slate of responsibility, where the movie becomes too enamored in its own plot and subsequently stumbles. The first half doesn't have much of a plot, and is largely as I described: there are the two suicide attempts, followed by the prescription of Ablixa, and then the crime. It chooses to focus more largely on its criticism of the medicine industry and the heedlessness of medical prescriptions (often influenced by paid deals from drug manufacturers), and after the crime is committed, Banks' decision in choosing whether or not the crime is actually his fault is largely philosophical in nature, making the viewer question if a person can be convicted of a crime if their body committed it but their mind did not. It was this driving question and criticism that I found profoundly chilling halfway through the film, as the viewer realizes that Banks is letting this question drive him mad, anxious to prove his innocence in the whole affair. The actual plot that unfolds onscreen, including the actual event of the crime, is far-fetched enough to distract from the experience, but the first half of the film only uses the few plot points as a starting point for some fairly haunting character and moral explorations that I found to be thoroughly well done.

To clarify, I am not saying I don't like the second half, where the movie takes maybe a few too many twists for its own good. I simply found the moral quandaries that arose out of Banks' inner turmoil immediately following the crime to be a far more disturbing outlook on the psychiatric field than anything that came afterward; however, the second half adds a good deal of menace to all of the characters that allows every actor to more truly stand out in their roles. Unfortunately, it forces the viewer to accept the semi-ludicrous plot and less nuanced characters over the more haunting and relevant message, which is a resounding disappointment. Also, the movie ends by making it clear what character it wants you to root for, but I couldn't help but feel that this character, by the end of the movie, had made a great deal of questionable actions throughout the film, and seemed to be almost as nasty as the rest (maybe a little bit less so). It was a bittersweet moment; a happy ending for this character, and one that I didn't really want this character to have.
I'll end this off on a positive note: the score by Thomas Newman is still reverberating in my mind and  it's brilliant. I can at least guarantee that this movie wouldn't have been the same without it; it's simultaneously calming and chilling; it's haunting, cerebral, and in a subtle way, menacing. I still like "Side Effects" as a film, but this really is (excuse the clichè) the perfect cherry to top it off.

Despite the second half and its weaker plot moments, "Side Effects" is a haunting, extraordinarily directed piece of cinema that requires a good amount of thought for the best experience. It's success lies within the moments outside of plot specifics, when the film relies mostly on its directorial chops and restrained script to propel its characters' states of mind into a hauntingly surreal, and yet disturbingly accurate, portrait of the pharmaceutical industry. It's pretty easy to lose oneself in this film. So, with that,  I'll give "Side Effects" a resounding:

3 Sleepwalking Felonies out of 4 (see, doesn't that sound dumb?)

Original Trailer: