Writing a review for a movie such as “Run,” much like anything by Alfred Hitchcock, is risky, as you walk that fine line between revealing too little and revealing too much of the plot. I’ve decided to try find some kind of middle ground, because you should really go in with as little knowledge of the plot as possible.
“Run” opens with Diane Sherman (Sarah Paulson), taking a peek at her ill newborn baby in an incubator, asking “is she going to be okay?” An eerie silence then shrouds through the room as we anticipate the doctor’s answer, and the screen then fades to black. The film continues 18 years later, with Diane living at home with her homeschooled and wheelchair-bound eighteen-year-old daughter, Chloe (Kiera Allen). How did the newborn from the first scene not only survive, but also manage to become such an impressive young college-bound woman? Director Aneesh Chaganty hints that it was accomplished with a scrupulous amount of pills, a garden full of fresh, organic vegetables, and amour, unadulterated mother-daughter love.
Despite all the hard work, Chloe lives a rather mundane and analogous life; Diane refuses to give her a cell phone or even access to a personal computer, resulting in the act of a Google search raising the tension later in the movie. I guess you can say that Diane is a tad too overprotective: on days when she doesn’t substitute at the local high school, she’s a caretaker, teacher, cook, and friend for Chloe, keeping an ever-close eye on her.
Using Chloe’s inability to walk for nail-biting suspense is quite a propos, given the fact that Allen is a wheelchair user herself, and you never think otherwise while watching her in action. she has a poetic way of moving around in continuous motion to the frame, making it nothing more than a game-changing bout of casting for the industry.
The film takes a left turn about halfway through, but all I will say is that Chaganty uses familiar cinematic tropes, from the psychological thriller to the escape adventure, to tell his story. The movie is as much about Chloe as it is a character study on Paulson’s Diane, a uber perfectionist, and her inability to cope with losing the control she’s built from the ground up for almost two decades. You see, Chloe is about to head off to college and she is impatiently waiting for her acceptance letter from Washington University to arrive, with her straight A’s making it almost certain that she got into the program she wanted.
“Run” is co-writer Sev Ohanian and Chaganty’s sophomore effort after their ingenious computer-screen thriller, “Searching.” Much like that film, “Run” is anxiety-inducing, even when a suspension of disbelief is needed to fully get on board with the story. There’s an adrenaline rush to the filmmaking, even when the implausibility is blatantly in-your-face. Much like in “Searching”, Chaganty is an expert at pulsating suspense, loading their latest with the kind of atmospheric dread only true experts of the genre can concoct. The way the film is shot, framed, scored and put together confirms Chaganty as a major talent to watch. If only, for his next film, he could lay off the implausibilities and go for more realism in his story.
Although its narrative adds nothing new to genre cinema, there is a much more complex and nuanced side to this movie, with multiple layers ensuring every new discovery comes with another puzzle to solve. Even when you know where the story is going, Chaganty pulls the rug from under you and adds more mysteries. Character’s motives are put into question, cat and mouse games ensue, and although familiarity always looms over, the strong filmmaking keeps your attention on the screen. This doesn’t have the same groundbreaking feel as “Searching,” but it does confirm a major new talent ahead. [B-]
“Run” world premiered at the Nightstream Film Festival and arrives November 20th on Hulu.