A brain-teaser

The Jacket is the story of an amnesiac American soldier who was accused of killing a cop and put in a mental asylum. It is somewhat convoluted and lacks credibility, writes Ervell E. Menezes

Psychology seems to be working overtime in films, these days, decades after the master of suspense made a splash in 1960 with Psycho. In The Jacket you have amnesiac American soldier (Adrien Brody), who was shot in the head during the 1991 Gulf war, being accused of killing a cop and put in a mental asylum instead of being treated for his amnesiac condition.

So what do we have? Well, a somewhat convoluted brain-teaser directed by avant-garde British filmmaker John Maybury. Placed under the care of sadistic psychiatrist (Kris Kristoferson, after a long, long while), this war veteran is injected with drugs, strapped in a straight jacket of the title and locked in a morgue at periodic intervals to become totally psyched (read loco). Then what?

His mind is propelled into the future where he meets an alcoholic waitress (Keira Knightley) only to learn that he has only four days to live. More tension. But can he defy fate? That is the moot point in The Jacket. Shuttling between the soldier’s traumatic past and his fantasy visions of 2007, the film is at best moderately interesting (but never gripping).

Cinematographer Peter Deming does well to project those hallucinatory effects reminiscent of that 1960s druggie classic The Big Cube with Lana Turner, Karen Mosberg and George Chakris in it. In his first role since winning the Best Actor Oscar for Roman Polanski’s The Pianist, Brody is again brilliant and is ably supported by Keira Knightley. Jennifer Jason Leigh and Daniel Craig (the new James Bond) provide good cameos in this psychedelic thriller.

Co-produced by Steven Soderberg (Sex, Lies and Videotape) and George Clooney, this one’s for discerning viewers despite its lack of credibiliy.

HOME