Mind Games

Rating: 5/10 (21 February 2010)

When Clarisse wanders into the restricted cells in "The Silence of The Lambs", the tension is overpowering. It is a murky combination of danger and disgust, as the inmates are poised to attack and abuse. With Demme's intelligent and flawless hand, we are slowly descending into a world where insanity lurks and at times can overpower us.
The premise in "Shutter Island", somewhat adapted from Lehane's engrossing and mind bending book, is that the lines between sanity and insanity sometimes blur. We follow Teddy (DeCaprio) in his adventure inside a mental institution as he tries to discover what has happened to some of the inmates there. The story unfolds like an onion, layer by layer, in Lehane's original narrative. In the film, the delicate construction is taken over by a series of monotonous dialog between some of the main members of the cast, which lessens the suspense and weakens the power of the main plot line.
DeCaprio is one of my favorite performers , and he is in good company here, as Kingsley, Von Sydow, and Williams show amazing support. Sadly, DiCaprio's turn is out of place and miscast. "Revolutionary Road" gave him a chance to demonstrate how good he could be at showing psychological despair. In here his broad turn is lacking in some of the details one would expect from such a conflicted person. This becomes more obvious as we go through a parade of people who might be in a similar position. The ever present doubt and paranoia works best when one looks at the rest of the cast, and how they handle their respective roles. With DiCaprio, he seems furiously driven by an obsession that we don't share. It is as if Scorcese has concentrated more on the style of the gorgeously photographed and produced film, but he has neglected the story and the main actor's performance subtle points.
It should be more haunting, fuller of despair, drenched in sadness, and the best some people of the audience could say was: "this was a creepy film..." For whatever reason, I don't think that is what Lehane originally intended.