138. Unsane; movie review

UNSANE
Cert 15
98 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong violence, threat, language

Is Claire Foy omnipresent? I see her photos on the sides of buses, she has been in the news headlines over her pay packet in TV's The Crown and, on Friday evening, Mrs W watched her in Unsane.
The pre-publicity for Steven Soderbergh's film was so effective that our anticipation was nearly as feverish as Pavlov's dog.
Sadly, it was unfulfilled. Despite Foy's best efforts, Steven Soderbergh's Unsane does not thrill nearly as much as it should.
Is that anything to do with the fact that he filmed it entirely on an iphone 7? Or is it just because it is so poorly scripted. Probably a bit of both.
Foy plays Sawyer, a young woman who has moved 450 miles to start a new life after being victim to a stalker.
However, she still lives in fear and believes, illogically, that she keeps seeing her tormentor (Joshua Leonard).
In realising she needs helps, she contacts the local support centre which doubles up as a residential mental health facility.
It turns out to be the worst decision of her life.
One of the central problems with Unsane is that its central character is so unappealing. Therefore, when events seem to conspire against her, we just didn't care.
In turn Leonard isn't a very convincing villain - we needed to be so appalled by him that we were thirsting for his comeuppance. We weren't.
But the key problem of Unsane is that it is riddled with plot holes. I feel compelled to point some out so these might be considered spoilers. Thus, if you haven't seen it yet, you probably should not read on.
Firstly, would mental hospital staff really lock a group of dangerous male and female patients in the same dormitory overnight?
And is it really so easy to get a job at such a facility?
But most of all how do people disappear without anyone noticing?
There are many more such questions surrounding Sawyer's work and the very odd final scene but suffice to say Unsane is unsound.
I find Soderbergh's work very inconsistent - ranging from the excellent Side Effects to the dismal Magic Mike. This is nearer to the latter's standard than the former's.
As for filming with an iphone 7 - it gave the sense of watching CCTV rather than a movie.

Reasons to watch: Claire Foy gives it her all
Reasons to avoid: So many plot holes

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 4/10

Director quote - Steven Soderbergh (on filming with an iPhone) - "I have to say the positives for me really were significant and it's going to be tricky to go back to a more conventional way of shooting."

The big question - Is filming with a phone really the way forward?

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