InSight is not a film that is easily forgotten nor brushed over. It starts off with some pretty extreme circumstances, we learn through fast cuts and dialogue that a girl named Allison Parks has been brutally attacked and we don't know why. Neither does the main character in the film, Kaitlyn, who plays one of the nurses trying to save Allison's life, as she is suffering from multiple stab wounds. Kaitlyn thinks for a moment that Allison is trying to communicate with her in some way, but before Kaitlyn can find out much, a defibrillator shocks Allison and she dies. The electricity travels through Allison's body and knocks out Kaitlyn, who then begins to see memories from Allison's life or so we are lead to believe for much of the film.
The uniqueness of InSight is how in which the story is told. Methodically, as slowly we learn more and less at the same time. I imagine it's hard for an audience to piece together what is real and what is only in Kaitlyn's mind, and I imagine that's the whole point. We struggle as the main character does to try and figure out whether Allison's murder was a random killing or something more. Along the way we are introduced to a skeptical detective, Kaitlyn's sick mother, a sleazy psychiatrist, and Allison's ex-boyfriend, all of these characters add to the mystery. None of them confirm for the audience on which end of the spectrum the story will end. Whether or not this was just a random killing and Kaitlyn is just hallucinating these memories, or there's something more to this murder, and Kaitlyn is the only one who can figure it out.
Richard Gabai directs this thriller in a way that allows the audience to piece-by-piece figure things out with the characters. By the end it's really up for interpretation what the truth is. If you see this with a friend, you will be discussing it long after the credits roll.
