Don’t Say a Word (2001) directed by Gary Fleder. This is a pretty decent thriller, where psychologist Michael Douglas’ daughter (played by then 8-year old Skye McCole Bartusiak, who I used to confuse with Dakota Fanning back then, and who sadly died in 2014 at just 21 of an accidental drug overdose) is abducted by Sean Bean and his crew of thieves, and Douglas, on order by Bean, has to interrogate his patient Brittany Murphy to get some number code related to her dad’s murder by Bean’s crew a decade ago.
It’s an average thriller, hitting the usual notes, but Brittany Murphy elevated it. I’m not just saying that because she also tragically died young, but she brings this hidden and weird vibe to her institutionalized patient character that is repressing deep trauma from her dad’s death (she witnessed his murder in NYC, and was found miles later on Hart Island hanging around his coffin), and gives her a lot more depth and sensitivity than this movie deserves. She had this fragile look, being very thin with huge eyes, but was also really captivating to watch, and was fully tapped in. She plays games with Douglas, withholds information when she knows she’s being used, and only gives her trust much later when she wants to help rescue his daughter, especially when Douglas is like “My daughter isn’t strong like you are, she can’t survive on her own like you were able to as a kid,” playing to her childhood trauma of navigating her way around NYC practically in a fugue state right after her father’s death. It was Murphy’s idea to whisper sing the line “I’ll never tell,” which is all the movie got associated by at the time. I generally like the movie as an average early 2000s thriller, but Murphy made it way more memorable. It’s on Hulu.
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