Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE GOOD NURSE [Toronto International Film Festival 2022]
The great thing about some of the streamers is that they are making films that the theatrical model can't support anymore. This includes the more procedural pieces and character based experiences that are too big for the small screen but too small for the big screen in its current form. The actors want to do these roles because they provide the most challenge and many times the most detail without having to worry overtly about the almighty dollar. The issue sometimes is that these certain films need a little more production budget than some independents can stand. This is true of "The Good Nurse" [Special Presentations] which is a thriller wrapped in a character drama. But this is where the Netflix model works at the current moment.
It is a tricky relationship per se to sell between Amy (Jessica Chastain) and Charlie (Eddie Redmayne). Both as characters (and actors) they are moving against expectation, trying to walk the line between melodrama (which could happen) while floating in the dearth of the midnight element of nursing where people and lives both flourish and perish in the night. Amy is committed but has her own issues that activate certain secrets she must keep. But her mindset dictates a certain reticence and she has benchmarks in the simplest terms that she has to accomplish just to survive. Charlie is more a mystery but seems so eager to help that something has got to be wrong. Redmayne coming off Newt in "Fantastic Beasts" needed to play with form just to differentiate in case people forgot about "Theory Of Everything" or "The Danish Girl". The only ironic thing is that these Netflix films mostly look great on the big screen (better than home) so it is ironic but also sad that only a few get to see them in this context at film festivals.
Chastain has to walk the line between fear, protection and her own self. The movie, directed by Tobias Lidholm, known writing films like "The Hunt" and "Another Round", plays with the idea of understanding or at least accepting certain parts of oneself while condemning other aspects. This duality is damning but essential here. Redmayne's performance, like when he played Hawking, is contained for the most part but explodes in certain key points. The culimation scenes (which are interesting antithetically for a thriller) are really something else. Redmayne completely loses himself at one point which is fantastic to see but also likely very scary for him to go to.
Chastain also enters this specific scene at one point from a completely different tone and the control they both have shows why they are so very good at what they do. What this film also allows is for the acting to strip down to basic and sometime extraordinary human flaws without the pageantry of some of their other roles. The thriller aspect of it is of course what needs to drive the plot. But it is an interesting tone to keep up, especially in this setting. In this way. the detective jumps away feels more like filler and social commentary that has to happen when you really just want to see more of the interpersonal friendship with Amy and Charlie. Their relationship in a weird way is primal and yet infinitely complicated in some many ways while remaining very simple in others. B
By Tim Wassberg
