The Jacket

Release Date: May 13th 2005
Distributor: TBC
Certificate: 15
Starring: Arien Brody, Kris Kristofferson, Keira Knightley
Director: John Maybury
Running Time: 102 mins

The Jacket was shown at the Sundance Festival to great acclaim. It stars Adrien Brody as Gulf War veteran Jack Starks who received a gunshot wound to the head and now suffers with amnesia.

On his way home to Vermont he gets picked up by a stranger (Brad Renfro), and becomes involved in the murder of a policeman. He is then sent by the judge to an institution for the criminally insane–the sort of place that some people say is worse than any jail.

It is there that he is treated by Dr. Becker (Kris Kristofferson), a senior psychiatrist. The doctor puts his patients on controversial treatments that include very bizarre techniques. Jack is experimented upon with drugs and is then put into a straight-jacket and locked in the drawer of a morgue.

There his mind propels him into the future where he meets a beautiful waitress, Jackie Pride (Keira Knightley), and discovers that he is destined to die in just four days. He believes he can help her from his fate.

Skillfully directed by John Maybury, it is a movie that covers the idea of time warps. Brody’s performance as a man suffering from personal trauma is superb. This psychological thriller will have you thinking about it long after the final credits have rolled.