Contagion (2011)

Returning home from a business trip to Hong Kong, a woman (Gwyneth Paltrow) feels unwell but she attributes it to jet lag. But when she has a seizure and dies, she becomes Patient Zero in a pandemic of global proportions. Shot with a digital camera and directed by Steven Soderbergh (ERIN BROCKOVICH), this is a corker of a medical thriller. Terrifying all the more because Soderbergh shoots in a realistic, semi documentary style (think Kazan's PANIC IN THE STREETS but less melodramatic and more natural) rather than the more action oriented spreading virus thrillers like OUTBREAK. All the more disturbing because it's not far fetched but clinically exacting in its portrayal of a race against time for a cure as a society self destructs in chaos and fear. The percussive pulsating score which propels it all forward is by Clint Martinez. Smart, intelligent and positively riveting! Though it's not the kind of film with any stand out performances as the story is the star and no one actor is allotted much time for a detailed character, the massive cast includes Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Marion Cotillard, Jude Law as a paranoid conspiracy theorist, Laurence Fishburne, Elliott Gould, Bryan Cranston, Jennifer Ehle, John Hawkes and Sanaa Lathan all giving solid performances.