Film Review of Insight: Troubling Memories for a Troubled Beauty in Troublesome Times

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InSight is a tightly crafted mystery-suspense film which evokes classic black-and-white movie atmospheres and plots in full-color contexts.

Flashbacks advance or hinder plots. At best, they are realistic information sources since memories rise like shrapnel. At worst, they clutter interactions with confusing time travels.

Recall is at its most effective in InSight, written by Aaron Ginsburg and Wade McIntyre; produced by John Constantine, Richard Gabai, and Larissa Michel; executive-produced by Elaine J. Constantine and Richard Iott; and directed by Richard Gabai. The cinematographer was Scott Peck. Editing and music were by Jeff Murphy; and Lisa Gerrard and Marcello De Francisco

The production companies for the 92-minute film are Braeburn Entertainment, Check Entertainment, and G.C. Pix although Phase 4 Films handles DVD distribution . The release date was April 30, 2011, for the Newport Beach International Film Festival, although the film opened September 4, 2011.

InSight begins with a bloodied woman in a hospital Emergency Room. Allison Parks (played by Angeline-Rose Troy) is the victim of a random killer. Or is she?

Staff attempt to resuscitate Allison when she flat-lines. Defibrillation fails. But during defibrillation, nurse Kaitlyn (played by Natalie Zea) gets shocked. The charge scrambles Kaitlyn’s perceptions.

Kaitlyn believes that Allison momentarily revived. She considers herself the recipient of Allison’s memories. She insists that Allison’s killing was personal.

Just about no one else agrees. Kaitlyn’s co-worker, Valerie Khoury (played by Lesley-Ann Brandt), claims that Allison never revived. Valerie thinks that Kaitlyn is imagining things because of personal stress.

Kaitlyn enters Allison’s apartment. She interviews Allison’s neighbor, Shep (played by Christopher Lloyd). She tracks down Allison’s ex-boyfriend, Stephen Geiger (played by Thomas Ian Nicholas). Her suspicions ultimately turn towards Dr. Graham Barrett (played by Adam Baldwin).

Kaitlyn’s persistence finally attracts Detective Peter Rafferty’s (played by Sean Patrick Flanery) attention. Peter becomes involved with Kaitlyn despite warnings from fellow detective Canto (played by Max Perlich). Peter regrets the involvement upon discovering that Patricia (played by Veronica Cartwright) died of cancer even though Kaitlyn pretends that her mother still lives.

Kaitlyn accuses Graham of romancing and then killing Allison. She kills him despite protests from him and Peter. The police lead Allison away. Peter realizes that no special insight is necessary when all the facts are in sight: one beautiful girl’s random killing and another’s misperceptions.

InSight is a crime thriller and psychological drama. The film will appeal to audiences in search of remakes of, or updated variations on, classic black-and-white detective films of the 1940s.

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Copyright:  Thursday, June 21, 2012 by Derdriu

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