SummarySuspicious that her colleague is responsible for a series of mysterious patient deaths, a nurse risks her own life to uncover the truth. [Netflix]
SummarySuspicious that her colleague is responsible for a series of mysterious patient deaths, a nurse risks her own life to uncover the truth. [Netflix]
This film is a prime example of how thrilling it can be when two extraordinarily gifted artists pool their resources to turn a routine thriller into a memorable work of art.
Few modern true-crime movies and shows remind viewers that they have as much responsibility over their own choices as the people onscreen do. That message may be uncomfortable to absorb, but it’s far more productive than luxuriating in disturbing acts.
Just to start with, it's inconceivable that the film was inspired by real events, and that the person responsible was capable of something so evil. What stands out the most here are the performances by Redmayne and Chastain, and the musical undertone that is in tune with the suspenseful scenes.
For what it’s worth, Chastain and Redmayne make for an interesting on-screen duo, with both award-winning actors inhabiting roles that service their talents nicely. But by keeping us emotionally at arm’s length, The Good Nurse doesn’t actualize its dramatic potential to the fullest degree, relying mainly on the power of its stars to carry the story instead of building a much more intricate, immersive story around them.
In a streaming series spread out over four or six hours, this might have offered compelling content (and certainly would have seemed less rushed) but, in its current format, it’s more frustrating than satisfying and the facile ending doesn’t hit the right spot.
Redmayne ultimately fails to crack the secret of what made this man — er, this monster — tick. But that’s not really the biggest mystery that hangs over “Nurse.” Rather, it is the question of why all these power players thought something this slight, this weightless, this forgettable was ever worth their time.
The middling reviews on this one are really just astounding to me, as this might be one of the year's finer (and, now, most underrated) achievements. I'm not necessarily coming from the same place that everyone else is either. Make no mistake, this is a sobering, ominous and emotionally taxing retelling of true events, but to say this is simply a serial killer movie is like saying "The Insider" is just a movie about cigarettes. For me, the real masterstroke attribute of this film is its editorial commentary on the for-profit healthcare system and how its glaring flaws ultimately fostered the kind of negligence and deviancy that occurred here. The way that this movie contextualizes these events within the greater corporatocracy of modern American medicine is honestly just as staggering as the scenes of tension and suspense that build throughout the course of the film. Redmayne is unassuming, yet chilling. Chastain is reserved, yet imposing. The direction is careful, yet eerily atmospheric. Again, I was supremely impressed by this and am rather disappointed it ended up getting as buried as it is.
Another genuine psycho thriller would occur in the United States following The Watcher and Dahmer. The nurse and his companion gave a fantastic performance in the lead role. I'm interested to see both in upcoming films. The cinematography could have been better because the picture was too gloomy in this instance. But due of the shifting twists, it didn't create any further disruption. Thus, it was never dull.
It would be a 7 if not for the fact that it pushes the "strong single woman hero" thing too much and distorted what actually happened to fit that narrative. But the acting is mostly good with some eyeroll moments. The music is overly dramatic at times. It's... mostly enjoyable but just trips over its own pretentiousness.
so concerned with being an arthouse picture that it forgot to develop some of its potentially compelling moments. We can tell, by the out-of-focus close-ups and extremely slow zoom-ins, that it wants to be a very artsy psychological drama. General Movie lovers will consider this a slog to get through, while fans of film as an art form won’t have great appreciation of it either.