Director: Danny Boyle
Screenplay: Joe Ahearne and John Hodge
Starring: James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Vincent Cassel
Synopsis is here
For some reason, it has been decided that March is the perfect
time for psychological thrillers. Stoker and Side Effects had both Park
Chan-wook and Steven Soderbergh embrace the pulpy mechanics of the genre
respectively. Now fresh off his Olympic duties, Danny Boyle has
decided to entrance viewers with a contorted tale which properly had writers
wondering if they can use the term "Hitchcockian" again.
While Trance's
plot is preposterous in a way that may have Brian De Palma question it's third
act mechanics, the energy and pace Boyle infuses with the film allows one
to bypass some of the more questionable areas of the narrative. However,
considering the film is based around the questionable matter of hypnosis.
Trance's screenplay is quite detailed on the matter, noting aspects that
many hypnotists take to heart. Like so many of Boyle's films, Trance
rolls at such a speed that you can take much of it at face value. Probably
best.
McAvoy finds
himself in more formidable territory than I last saw him
(Welcome to the Punch) nailing many scenes with the right balance of charm for
his character. Cassel picks up a role that he could do with both hands tied around
his back, but it's good to see a Euro antagonist done well (Die Hard 5, I'm
looking at you). Rosario Dawson brings up the rear with a sexy but telling
performance. She's more believable as a hypnotherapist than Catherine Zeta
Jones being a psychiatrist, however from the moment
Dawson enters the fray, we know what position she'll be in at the end of the
film.
Still the film
doesn't slip too much and Boyle has fun with the film visually. At one point we
see orange lit motorways mimicking synapses of the brain while the
bold colour scheme of the film does well to show up the look of recent British
fare.
Like most
thrillers of its ilk, Trance pretends it's about one thing before revealing
it's actually about something else. Some of the film’s final
revelations manage to strangely uplifting considering the events that take
place with the characters involved. Much like Side Effects, the film is not at
all scared to play with our loyalties and alliances to
characters. After further thought, Trance didn't turn my head as much as
Trainspotting or Sunshine did, but it shows itself to be a fun little exercise
for everyone involved.
