Side Effects: "One pill can change your life!"

I Just went to see Side Effects. It’s a psychological thriller, lets face it: it was going to happen. So it’s Directed by Steven Soderbergh who also directed Ocean’s Eleven and Twelve. So you know that you’re getting something that’s fast-paced and gripping. Jude Law’s in it and so is Catherine Zeta-Jones and the less famous Rooney Mara who played quite a convincing depressed person.

So without giving too much away, Emily, the main character, suffers from depression after her husband, Martin was sent to prison for some unknown crime. She waits for him (sweet), only her depression takes a toll on their relationship. She is treated by a new doctor, Jude Law’s character, who prescribes her a newly released antidepressant called ABLIXA. And this is when, surprise, surprise…things start going wrong. Like, really wrong.

Let me start off by saying that whatever expectations you have about this film are going to be shattered pretty much the moment the film begins. We are told after the beginning scene that this is going to be a circular narrative and so are naturally eager to find out about the events which led up to the bloody scene which we are presented with at the beginning.

Halfway through the film you think you’ve figured out the plot. Well let me just tell you that no. no, you haven’t. The full extent of the narrative will slowly dawn upon you within the last 15-20 minutes. In fact, I feel as though I need to re-watch this film in order for me to piece together all the information correctly, because (as my mind works at a glacial speed) I missed a great deal. But what I did get MADE SENSE.

Let’s just talk about the underlying message of this film. We take a hell of a lot of pills. Especially Americans. Oh, that reminds me; there was one quote which summed up the difference between pill taking tendencies of the UK and the USA: “In the UK, if you’re taking pills, that means you’re sick. In the US, taking pills means you’re getting better.” That quote has crazy connotations! But so has the film! There were people popping pills to get ready for job interviews. This is the kind of world we live in, people! At one point they even mentioned that a lot of the pills were actually placebos. What has that got to say about the people who take them and actually get better as a result? That they weren't really ill in the first place, that’s what.

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About the dialogue. I usually notice when dialogue is bad because when dialogue is bad, it is very, very bad, and when dialogue good…well, I’m less likely to notice. Sounds pretty lame, I know, but I’m far more likely to notice bad dialogue because, for example, someone answering the phone and saying “Hello, brother. Thank you for calling me to remind me that you are coming over to visit me later” well, its just crap and it negates all the effort that the director and actors have put into creating a believable world. So anyway, I didn’t notice anything bad about the dialogue, and I think the script overall must have been very good because just when you think you're secure in your own smug knowledge about what's going to go down, the writer (Scott Z. Burns) is like “PSYCH!” And then throws you off guard again.

The music was pretty good in creating suspense, and there were some interesting camera angles going on. Angles that almost had me tilting my head to the side and then I realised that, as an audience member, I shouldn’t have to do a damn thing but sit in my damn seat and be fed information.

So overall, I am experiencing some pretty good side effects from watching this film. (Sorry, it had to be done)

Good day!

P.S. If you enjoyed this film, you'll probably also enjoy Limitless. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219289/?ref_=sr_1

8/10

Diversity in Alien species

Something that has always baffled me is Hollywood’s tendency to depict aliens in a certain way. The stereotypical alien is more advanced technologically and physically, and their intellect is a skyscraper towering above our humble shack of a brain. They usually have the ability and the tools to build space ships and weapons capable of shocking amounts of damage, have mastered movement at the speed, or exceeding that of light, and are often twice or even three times the size of a normal human being. Their skin is often translucent, and their bodies athletic and chiseled into the perfect shape for combat and running at high speeds.

                      

                          

Yet with all this in mind, they seem to lack one very important ability: coherent speech. I have only very recently noticed the lack of discourse that goes on between aliens in films, which is often limited to a series of grunts and high pitched noises. This is something I find highly confusing. Were it not for our ability to communicate with one another, our species of human would have died out thousands of years ago, and the less talkative homo erectus would be dominating the earth’s surface.

Could it be that aliens are conveyed to be the equivalent of our homo erectus? I find this utterly ridiculous for, without the ability to communicate with one another and share ideas, how would such a being be capable of building a paper aeroplane, let alone a spacecraft?

Another thing I find to be unfair in the depiction of alien beings is their lack of diversity. All aliens in one particular film look exactly the same, quite often it is hard to distinguish between the males and females. One exception to this would be the film ‘Aliens vs. Predators’, where two types of aliens (one from each planet) battle it out for the title of ultimate alien. Well done, Hollywood, for showing two different groups of aliens in one film. But again, we have to consider the fact that as human beings, we come in all different shapes and sizes, races and other physical differences. Correct me if I’m wrong, but in all alien films, aliens from the same species all look exactly the same.

There are no different shades of alien, no particularly short or particularly tall aliens, and for god’s sake, where are the overweight aliens? I’m sure other planets out there have a problem with obesity, considering how little humans have to exercise with the surplus in technological advancement which limit us to playing tennis in our living rooms. Surely aliens with even more advanced technology have even less reason to move at all…shouldn’t they all be overweight, then?

Or perhaps they choose to only send the strongest, most intelligent aliens to invade earth, in which case, I fully understand. But when it’s humans who invade (which is hardly ever the case – aliens are always the bad guys) still, there is no trace of diversity among the native alien clan. Why is it that they are all the same? Is there only one country on other planets? Do they all speak the same language? These are things that we, as casual sci-fi film watchers, don’t consider often enough, if at all. One exception that I can think of is the portrayal of aliens in Men in Black. From what I can remember, there is some diversity there. However they still look ridiculous.

I just want some more realistic representations of alien life forms which are relatable to humans. Not only would they be more realistic, but also they’d actually seem more threatening because their lack of tentacles or extra mouths/heads would hint at hidden capabilities. If we know what their weaponry is we can find ways to defeat it. if we don’t…well we’ve got the potential for an interesting sci-fi film

Why?

This picture encapsulates everything we should be feeling after watching a good thriller: cathartic, slightly traumatised, yet undeniably serene. The thriller genre evokes our voyeuristic tendencies and underlying fears in order to entertain us. There is something about seeing the world through the eyes of someone just like ourselves, and seeing that world transform into something deadly. 

What is it about the thriller genre that attracts millions to it? It is the ability it gives us to live our greatest fears through a fictional character in order to help us purge those feelings of anxiety that we link with certain things. It is a need to be scared, a need to feel the instability, not in our own, but in other people's lives. Why else would we read gossip magazines? Why else would we use social media to find out about the personal lives of others? Why else would we stop to gawk at an accident on a busy road? Because it gives us a way in which to live an alternate life temporarily, while forgetting about our own. 

What is is about the thriller genre that we love? We love to know that, whatever happens to us, someone, somewhere out there is worse off than us. We want to know that our lives aren't all that bad, and that, in fact, in comparison to some others, our lives are pretty great, so great, that we can afford to waste our time experiencing simulations of alternate existences.

I happen to be one of these people. Join me in my quest for the perfect thriller.