When seeing Aneesh Chaganty’s genius debut feature “Searching” back in 2018, it was something of a miracle to behold. Watching the way his story unfolds with its characters, tension, and unpredictable twists made it what is my favorite film of that year. Hearing that Aneesh Chaganty was making another movie brought so much excitement to my heart. In this dreadful year of 2020 that is moving so slow like a tortoise, we have another thought-provoking and masterful thriller from Mr. Chaganty himself, “Run”.
“Run” tells the story of a mother named Diane Sherman (played by Sarah Paulson), who after giving birth to a premature baby who ends up dying, she ends up stealing a healthy body out of the nursery, whose name is Chloe.
Seventeen years later, Chloe (played by newcomer Kiera Allen) is now a teenager home schooled by her mother, notices that she is chronically ill, and because of these fatal conditions, she is on a wheelchair. Since Chloe is still sick, she has to take pills to cure these conditions. Chloe soon finds out that her mother might be hiding a dark secret about those pills that can make her sick.
The only fear I had going for “Run” is that it was distributed by Lionsgate. I was afraid the studio was going to shatter Aneesh’s creative vision and just come off as another jump-scare fest. Man, was I SO wrong. “Run”, just like his debut “Searching”, has to be one of the greatest crafted thrillers of the twenty-first century. The level of quality “Run” has to offer seriously ranks up with modern classics such as “10 Cloverfield Lane”, “Prisoners”, and “One-Hour Photo”.
I seriously am starting to consider Aneesh Chaganty as one of our most interesting and original filmmakers working today. With making this caliber of quality with only two films, I am seriously wanting this guy can go to places because the amount of storytelling, logical decisions, tension, and character development is incredibly unreal. Just like “Searching”, this is a film someone has to go blind with. The only fault I had with “Run” is its second act can feel a tad bit slow here and there, but Chaganty’s genius storytelling bandages it all up with sunshine and rainbows on it.
The best aspect I loved about his debut “Searching” occurs again in “Run”. Like how “Searching” reminded me of nail-biting David Fincher thrillers like “Gone Girl”, “Run” reminded me of so many classic thrillers where I wondered if Chaganty got inspired by them. The turbulent chemistry between both Chloe and Diane reminded me of the chemistry between Carrie and her mother in the original “Carrie”. The way Diane’s mannerisms and attitudes are portrayed in the film reminded me of Kathy Bates’ sadistic Anne Wilkes in Rob Reiner’s “Misery”. To be clear, Aneesh Chaganty loves making people remind themselves of great movies.
I still do not know why Lionsgate is not campaigning either Sarah Paulson and Kiera Allen for this award season because both maybe deliver the most committed performances of 2020 so far. Sarah Paulson as Diane Sherman plays such a sadistic, messed-in-the-head mother you want to murder so bad. Meanwhile, Kiera Allen delivers one of the greatest debut performances I have seen in a while as the wildly sympathetic daughter Chloe. Chloe is one of those protagonists where you want her to leave out of those unbelievably sticky situations so bad.
“Run” is definitely going to be a movie that is going to skyrocket near my top 5 by the end of this year. Never since Aneesh’s debut “Searching” have I witnessed a thriller like “Run” that feels so addictive and original. Mark my words. Aneesh Chaganty is going to be one of our next great filmmakers throughout this current decade. He is going to be the M. Night Shyamalan we thought were going to have after “The Sixth Sense” where every one of us moviegoers will be anticipated with joy like jumping beans. He is a guy that reminds us about why we love movies so much.
Grade: 9.5/10
