Side Effects

Widely reported to be Steven Soderbergh’s final theatrical release, “Side Effects” at first seems a curiously reserved and intimate film for the Academy Award-winning director to go out on. But what begins as a quiet drama rapidly boils into a menacingly suspenseful thriller, twisting and turning with a Hitchcock-ian  precision.

The nail-biting medical drama follows Emily Taylor, played with subdued fire by Rooney Mara. Emily is a depressed and potentially disturbed woman whose husband, played by Channing Tatum, has just been released from jail. Enter Jude Law as Dr. Jonathan Banks, exuding his usual British charm. Dr. Banks is a psychiatrist who prescribes her a new drug that has surprising consequences for the entire ensemble.

In the style of his other contemporary works like “Contagion” and “Magic Mike,” Soderbergh shoots “Side Effects” in a supremely digital light, framing shots of tussled hair and prescription pill bottles with unequivocal expertise. He also trusts his actors enough to let the camera linger for upwards of 10 or 20 seconds, forgoing the usual quick cuts that more amateur directors regularly exploit. Through Soderbergh’s direction, we become the fly on the wall rather than the audience in the dark theater.

As Emily plunges into the abyss that is America’s overmedicated culture, we follow her through every arch and bend of her illness. Mara, a true chameleon, channels the same calm intensity that garnered her an Academy Award nomination for “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo.” She leads a tremendous cast that includes Catherine Zeta-Jones in her best performance in a decade and Channing Tatum continuing his streak of surprisingly great acting.

But to overly review and analyze “Side Effects” would be a disservice to anyone who hasn’t seen it. The sinister bliss of watching it comes from the total shock you’re sure to experience as an audience member going in blind. Just know that if this really is Soberbergh’s swan song, he goes out with a bang.