Tag: psychiatrists


Side Effects

February 7th, 2013 — 8:08pm

****Side Effects copy

Side Effects sp– Whenever there is  movie where the main character is a New York  psychiatrist (Jude Law) we become particularly attentive and critical since we are quite familiar with this world . In this case we are also initially confronted with psychiatric drugs, that are advertised to the public, may have side effects, are prescribed by psychiatrists who get money and free trips fromy the drug company etc etc. However Director Steven Soderberg (Sex Lies & videotapes, Erin Brockovich, Contagion) and screen writer Scott Z. Burns (Bourne Utlimatum and the  documentary An Inconvenient Truth) while fully capable of an expose type film had something else in mind. This is a classic thriller, which uses what they imagine to be the underside of psychiatry and psychiatrists to provide a complicated and well done plot.  An all star cast of Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Vinessa Shaw was assembled although one of these star roles  was much shorter than others. Soderbergh must  take pride in creating a film which demonstrates in a subtle manner that it is inspired from classic films of the past. The photography and editing may seem familiar to movie buffs in the cuts, breaks and in other ways. The Director of Photography is listed as Peter Andrews which is the same name as Soderberg’s father and the Editor  is listed as Mary Ann Bernard the same name as his mother. Soderberg is known for using these pseudonyms as he takes on these other duties to put his full imprint on the film. As good movies of this genre do, it rivets you in your seat, taxes your intellect to follow the twists and turns  of the plot, and thrills you with excitement and suspense.  In the end we were not inclined to argue with any psychiatric depiction with which we might disagree but rather we were caught up thinking could this happen to us and what a great and tense experience we had watching this film.(2013)

Comment » | 4 Stars, Drama, Thriller

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