Spoiler Warning: This discussion features some important narrative information that could spoil the text for you. It does not necessarily spell out the film’s conclusion, but it does talk about events in detail.
"You need me."
Aneesh Chaganty’s Run is an intriguing little conundrum. I found his first film, Searching to be an absolute delight with inventive filmmaking and clever storytelling. I found less of that in this outing, despite some very flashes of prosperity.
I want to start with the positive material because I do think that there’s genuine merit in Run. The most obvious coming in the shape of Kiera Allen, the daughter of this mother-daughter thriller dynamic. Her performance is absolutely fantastic and transcends Sarah Paulson’s exaggerated mouth acting, which I have honestly never been a fan of. The next is the premise; casting its final girl as a wheelchair user is a piece of genius from writers Chaganty and Ohanian. It restricts her speed, confines her to places by the structures of her own home. A stair lift suddenly becomes an infeasibly dangerous proposition, for example. The decision to cast a real wheelchair user in the role is an important step in the right direction for cinema; it’s a diverse decision and one that pays off better for the authenticity of this film.
However, it doesn’t make the film good, and I have a wealth of problems with the film. The first act is solid; Chaganty proves that he is more than capable of setting up an effective thriller. The atmosphere is always a little bit off; nothing feels especially comfortable from the moment you see lurking shadows and questionable antics. Yet, despite that solid foundation, it totally crumbles in the second act. Yes, the action is suspenseful, and some exciting decisions are made; but, it’s all so horribly predictable.
The film makes it obvious that it is a play on the Gypsy Rose Blanchard case from 2015 and casts the mother as having Munchausen by proxy. It’s a clever idea, but again, every move is transparent. You can call out what’s going to happen a minute or so before it does and be dead on. It’s boring; it kills the atmosphere. The filmmaking doesn’t lend to helping either, because instead of dreading what is taking place off-camera, you already know. There’s an entire flashback scene that looks like it’s taking place from the perspective of a character that physically cannot have those memories. There are character decisions made that make absolutely no sense that are poorly disguised narrative shortcuts in practice.
Run needed a stronger draft before it ever made it to the shooting stage. It’s a shame because I like the team behind it; the premise is strong, and the technical execution isn’t far off. It suffers from a lack of innovation; thrillers and horrors are always the worst sufferers of predictability. This is one of the most recent hard offenders of that, which is disappointing.
Connor Clarke Film 