COLD sufferers should prepare for nervous glances this winter as bacteria infects the centre stage in all-star thriller Contagion.
When businesswoman Beth (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns from a trip to Hong Kong with a contagious terminal disease, she starts a chain-reaction of infection which begins to consume the planet.
As the CDC and WHO try to find the root of the illness in a bid to find a cure, public hysteria soon spirals out of control - not helped by the rantings of online blogger Alan Krumwiede (Jude Law).
But with no sign of a proven treatment and the disease spreading at an exponential rate, can the human race survive?
Disease is back
Since 1995's monkey-blaming Outbreak and the post-9/11 Right At Your Door, the infectious disease movie has fallen out of vogue with zombie horrors filling the void.
But in the wake of bird flu and swine flu scares, the microscopic threat is back.
Hollywood anomaly Steven Soderbergh is notorious for offering a gamut of films ranging from popcorn fodder (Ocean’s trilogy) to high-brow head-scratchers (Solaris) to Oscar-baiting dramas (Erin Brockovich).
Following a slew of recent mediocre Box Office returns, this clinical take on the ‘epidemic horror’ genre mashes up his penchant for indie aesthetics with an absorbing - and chilling - narrative.
Scott Z Burns presents a no-frills script effervescing with authenticity over OTT dramatic events.
Avoiding the cliches you would expect (Presidential addresses, sweet suburban family over-come the odds unscathed, etc) or gross-out horror, Contagion plays more like a documentary (accented by the cinéma vérité style), backed up by a pace-proding synth-score.
It is this sterile approach which haunts - side-stepping sci-fi sensibilities in favour of perturbing realism.
But following an emotive first act as the disease takes hold of families, the film soon descends into stats and figures rather than human connections, taking away the relatability as epidemic becomes pandemic.
Enviable ensemble
No stranger to ensemble pieces, Soderbergh balances his multi-stranded narrative admirably; but is mainly reliant on the blinding star-wattage of the cast.
Matt Damon, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kate Winslet, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Marion Cotillard - the credits read like an Academy Award grabbing wishlist, but there is no ego on display.
Each player settles into the narrative sympathetically; never trying to outshine or upstage each other to threaten the suspension of disbelief, making each performer fair game to succumb to the disease.
Contagion marks a solid return to form for Soderbergh and a welcomed injection of drama into the 2011 cinema rota.
Harrowing and entertaining in equal measure, prepare to fear the flu.
7/10 - Infectious drama.