"Unsane" may be the most unpleasant Steven Soderbergh film I've ever watched. It was shot on an iPhone 7 and looks consistently unappealing in every sense, which is in keeping with Soderbergh's penchant for cinematic experimentation. It was made in secret on a paltry budget, and it definitely shows. That's not to suggest that Soderberg didn't do an excellent job, however, or that "Unsane" isn't successful at being a entertainingly trashy psycho-thriller.
Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy) is a troubled woman who is being stalked by a man named David Strine (Joshua Leonard). Sawyer visits a counselor at a mental hospital for help with her feelings of anxiety and paranoia, and is confined there by the unscrupulous psychiatrists as part of an insurance scam. She befriends another patient, Nate (Jay Pharoah), and is able to contact her mother, Angela (Amy Irving). However, Sawyer and Angela are both thwarted in their attempts to get Swayer released. To make matters worse, Sawyer believes that David is working at the hospital as one of the orderlies.
It's odd seeing Claire Foy playing a woman so high-strung and constantly on edge after her work on "The Crown" as the regal Elizabeth. However, it's impressive how she does all the heavy lifting here, keeping the audience guessing as to whether Sawyer is being manipulated into staying at the mental hospital, or if she actually belongs there. I think that Soderbergh actually gave away the game too quickly, but Foy and Joshua Leonard's confrontation scenes together are the best parts of the movie, so I can't complain too much. Leonard, an indie film fixture, makes an excellent soft-spoken creeper, and I hope this part leads to him getting more of the spotlight in the future. I'd like to see more from him.
The most notable thing about "Unsane" is the look of the film, which doesn't do much to disguise that it was shot on an iPhone. It immediately evokes the waning found-footage trend, with its stark lighting and high-angle shots, which make several scenes feel like we're watching the action unfold via surveillance cameras. However, more cinematic elements, like occasional tracking shots and superimposed images, regularly break the illusion. All of this helps to create a creepily claustrophobic atmosphere where mundane environments come across as stranger and harsher. The baseline reality is harder to pin down and familiar actors like Jay Pharoah and Juno Temple, who plays another mental patient, are nearly unrecognizable.
The B-movie plotting is very predictable, some of the dialogue is very clunky, and certain sequences feel oddly staged. This is a far more unpolished piece of work than Soderbergh's similar genre pieces like "Side Effects." However, the visceral thrills and sequences of suspense work perfectly well. The realism of the visuals gives the violence and the threats of violence more bite. Foy and Leonard also get a couple of stronger interactions together that elevate things considerably. By the time the movie reaches the third act and the really schlocky B-movie business kicks in, all subtlety goes out the window, but it's very satisfying to watch. I wouldn't call it a fun watch, but there's a definite gratification to seeing how things play out.
All in all, I found that "Unsane" reminded me the most of "Haywire," another Soderbergh film stacked with plenty of strong acting talent, but that really wasn't interested in doing more than delivering some very specific cinematic pleasures. In that case, it was watching the heroine brawl with a series of baddies played by much more high-profile actors. Here in "Unsane," it's really all about enjoying the uneasy tension of Claire Foy's character teetering on the brink of insanity and then playing cat and mouse with a man she believes is her stalker. The filmmaking might be on the crude side, but it successfully gets the audience into Sawyer's unstable mind, so it all works.
As for Soderbergh, this is his second film since he came back from his filmmaking hiatus, and I don't think it's too early to say that it's good to have him back. I don't think "Unsane" is one of his better movies, but it's one that definitely benefits from his attention. We're not lacking in psycho-thrillers these days, but nobody makes a movie quite like Steven Soderbergh.
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