"Run" Review: Can Chaganty Strike Gold Again?

Vega
Nov 21, 2020
4 min read

Hulu Release Date: November 20, 2020

It was late-2018 and it was a Sundance film from an unknown director. Shot across a multitude of devices, from GoPros to webcams to an iPhone, it was billed as a mystery thriller following a father searching for his missing daughter. It sounded like a gimmick film surely set to fail with nothing but the laurels of its technological stretches to lean on. One hundred and two minutes later, it became one of my favorite films of the past decade. This is 2018's Searching, the feature directorial debut of Aneesh Chaganty. Now 2 years later, Chaganty returns with his second feature film, a Hulu Original titled Run. Yes, I made that extra dramatic, but it was the only way to capture my excitement in text. I have long praised Searching as a must-see film and to find that Chaganty's second feature film was going to easily be available on Hulu, I could barely contain my eagerness for its release.

This is a movie that relies on the shock of its twists to build tension and propel the story, and thus it is difficult to review the film without spoiling certain aspects. Nevertheless, I will try my best to provide direct spoilers, but let this serve as your warning:

-----------------POTENTIAL SPOILERS AHEAD-----------------

Run is a two-person thriller, featuring Kiera Allen as Chloe, a high schooler with a hodgepodge of chronic illnesses: arrythmia, hemochomatosis, asthma, diabetes, and paralysis in her lower extremities. Her mother, Diane, is played by Sarah Paulson, whose life is centered around providing care for Chloe. Chloe is presented as a smart and very capable individual despite her medical limitations, which are very well-acted by Allen, who also uses a wheelchair in real life (kudos to the casting directors). You quickly realize that Chloe's life is primarily confined to her home, as she is homeschooled and spends much time in her personal workshop. She is awaiting potential acceptance letters from college, which is the plot line to which we are first introduced, and this gives us our first insight into Paulson's character. Paulson, to no surprise, does a great job as the off-putting Diane (having had much practice on American Horror Story), always coming off as implicitly controlling of Chloe's life. It's the early scenes of Diane in a separate part of the house (which we learn is the basement) that begins leaving clues that there is much beneath the surface of her character that we don't yet know as it is presented like a separate life.

Now, it didn't even take five minutes to figure out where the main plot thread was going and the twist that Chloe would eventually come to realize. It didn't help that this was a Hulu Original, the same network that debuted 2019's The Act, which both share some similar qualities. Don't worry, this is not a Munchausen by Proxy situation, as it's a bit deeper than that.

While the film does a good job of slow building tension towards the climax, especially with the use of Chloe's asthma attacks to build suspense and slow time, it wastes no time in raising the questions of what's going on. Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, Chloe accidentally discovers a bottle of pills that begins raising questions about her medication regimen and starts looking for information to further explain if something nefarious is going on. That one tug on the thread begins an unraveling of a mystery that goes back to the circumstances of her birth. This is not a slow-burn hour before the last 30 minutes is full of reveals and chaos. The movie does a good job with pacing by including little boosts of adrenaline throughout, primarily lead by Paulson's unraveling as a mother trying to protect the life she's made for her daughter.

Nothing came easy for the characters, which lead to a sense of realism I wasn't expecting, and on the same end, there was a lot of common sense used in situations with the supporting cast. By that, I mean there were situations where movies would usually have characters write something off in an eye-rolling manner to build frustrations and false hopes, but with the exception of the pharmacy tech, many of the characters were smart. Even knowing the twist, it was an enjoyable experience that offered an easily like-able character to get behind. Too naive at times, though I guess that is to be expected when every aspect of Chloe's life was controlled by someone else. What I didn't expect was the second twist that served as the explanation for the motivation behind the first twist. Oh yeah, double-twisty. I'm not sure if the director likes/idolizes M. Night Shyamalan, but between this and Searching, he definitely loves the plot twist as the primary story motivator.

The reveal was satisfying and shocking enough to warrant the tension built up to that point, but again, it is the extent that Paulson's character is willing to go that continues to push the emotional tone of the film. The finale is staged in a hospital, which is ironically fitting considering the story's focus, and, again, common sense brings a quick resolution to the threads that Chloe had unraveled. What I find a bit more off-putting is the ending, and I won't say too much here, but it leaves me very torn on whether it should be considered a happy ending or not. There are some specifics that bothered me about the ending, but none of which would be detrimental to the story as a whole.

_________________________________________________________________________________________