The Jacket
Directed by John Maybury
- drama
- mystery
- science fiction
- thriller
- fantasy
The story
A military veteran goes on a journey into the future, where he can foresee his death and is left with questions that could save his life and those he loves.
What it’s like
Cold, desaturated institutional interiors give way to fractured flashes of frosted blues, sickly yellows and blown-out whites, with the film's psychiatric-ward scenes shot in tight, unsettling close-ups and the hallucinatory sequences cut with jittery handheld restlessness. Snow-bleached Vermont winter and dim, dripping asylum corridors make the world feel brittle and airless, while a sparse, pulsing electronic score and sudden silences keep the nerves on edge. The vibe is haunted and clinical, a slow unease that tightens through repetition and disorientation, best suited to a late night alone when you want something moody and psychologically strange. It moves in unsettling bursts rather than a steady build, and its people's arc follows a damaged veteran slowly reaching toward connection while he tries to hold onto his own mind. Violence is brief but sharp, with a few abrupt jolts and a scene of restraint and confinement, and the dread comes more from disorientation than gore. For viewers who like psychological puzzles with a bruised, melancholy heart and can handle a fragmented, uneasy watch.
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