How have we never noticed Sarah Paulson is scary AF? In the “housewives with a dark side” category, I put Paulson next to pretty much anybody – Kathleen Turner, Glenn Close. This is some real “Mommie Dearest” crap going on here, I can tell you.
In the opening, Diane (Paulson) is giving birth. To be frank, she already looks to be on the other side of middle-aged (Sarah will be only 46 this December); can we be that surprised when she gives birth to a sickly preemie? As her baby is put into an incubator, Diane questions openly about the newborn’s health. The question hangs in the air. The scene cuts.
Seventeen years later, a girl nimbly maneuvers her wheelchair about the house. Chloe (Keira Allen) is chronically ill with arrhythmia, hemochromatosis, diabetes, paralysis, and simple chronic halitosis. She moves pretty well for girl who could drop dead from the sniffles. It’s a two-person home and slooooowly we are introduced to exactly how isolated Chloe is – she’s bound to a wheelchair; she’s sickly; it’s a two story home in the woods and she can’t walk stairs; she has no internet capabilities; and, oh, something is not right about the medication mom gives her.
Chloe wants to go to college in the fall, but there are more than a few obstacles for
this home-schooled kid, among them being: what if mom doesn’t want her to go to college? In fact, what if mom’s TLC isn’t so … “T”, “L”, or “C?” Well, then you’ve got a sickly wheelchair bound child against a … monster. Serve up the popcorn, looks like we got ourselves a movie after all.
As Chloe struggles again and again in her universe, Run indirectly asks one simple question: how do you know when you’re being gaslighted? It’s a question every single American voter should have asked themselves at least once in the past four years … apparently, the size of your bubble doesn’t matter; it’s the spectrum of information that penetrates your brain. It’s easier, of course, if the range of information is completely closed (like being the weaker in a two-person family) or if the subject absolutely refuses to take in information outside their bubble (MAGA). The less subtle question the movie asks is “well, what do you do about it?” I can’t say the mystery here is terribly advanced, but the cat-and-mouse interplay makes Run worth one watch.
A girl with a countenance most frail
Sees the outside as her holy grail
Her prevailing knowledge
Can lead her to college
If only she escapes from mom jail
Rated PG-13, 90 Minutes
Director: Aneesh Chaganty
Writer: Aneesh Chaganty, Sev Ohanian
Genre: The one where the title doesn’t match anything in the story
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Children of abusive parents
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Abusive parents
