A medical drama that wins you over, even through some of its flaws.
There’s a lot of mistakes in this world, so which mistake is “A Mistake” suggesting? Well, it regards an operation that ends up fatal, either because of a doctor’s error or an infection within the procedure. But whatever the reason, it sets off a bad chain of reactions in this new drama starring Elizabeth Banks.
Two months apart, she has been in a movie regarding stressful and realistic pathos. In “Skincare,” she played a celebrity aesthetician in Los Angeles, whose cosmetics business is threatened by identity theft, and needs to end it pronto. And now, in “A Mistake,” which takes place in New Zealand, she plays a surgeon named Elizabeth Taylor, who leads her team to help out a teenage girl named Lisa Williams (Acacia O’Connor) through her appendix operation.
She puts her young colleague Richard (Richard Crouchley) in charge of the rest of the operation, but unfortunately, complications occur during and after it, and the girl doesn’t make it. The parents (Matthew Sunderland and Rena Owen) are distraught enough to file a former complaint against the surgeon.
At times, Banks sounds like she’s struggling to keep her American accent at bay, but at other times, she’s able to convince us of her character’s emotions and convictions. And during an interview at the Quad Theater in NYC, she acknowledges that the film is really about Lisa Williams and whether or not it would make a difference if the surgeons can do their jobs properly. And as an actress who can represent her exuberant and comedic approach, she has been able to show her dramatic side, and in 2024, she’s having a good year in representing her acting skills. And by showing her concerns for the deceased young girl, it proves that she isn’t trying to steal the picture away.
As a result of the fatality, things spin out of control as the newspapers call her “careless,” her boss Andrew (Simon McBurney) is revealed to be an misogynist regarding his thoughts on female surgeons, her lover and co-worker Robin (Mickey Sumner) ending their relationship, and how Richard is torn apart about Lisa’s death.
Some scenes seem unnecessary and unfocused like how Elizabeth’s house gets infested with bugs and how it affects the dog she was supposed to take care of. As an uncle with two dogs, I don’t like watching dying dogs. It’s just hard to watch. But there are other scenes of utmost importance. It regards how the hospital would view the results of the operation and the people behind it, and how one woman tries to take it for the whole team, while struggling to deal with the turmoil.
Writer/director Christine Jeffs (“Sunshine Cleaning”), who based the film on Carl Shuker’s novel, sets the mood and tone on a somber scale (with the score composed by Frank Ilfman and the cinematography by John Toon), almost reminding me of the tone used in “Manchester by the Sea.” “A Mistake” is a sad movie, and it’s not a perfect movie regarding some of the elements I’ve mentioned, but it is poignant regarding the subject matter. It really handles the outcome with sincere emotions and some good performances-particularly by Banks, McBurney, Crouchley, Sunderland, and Owen.
And as a hospital movie, it really wants to live up to their standards of what goes down in the operating room, and even Banks admitting she has taken some lessons. Just as long as the film doesn’t get too indulged in that, for the sake of people with delicate constitutions.
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