MOVIE REVIEWS |
INTERVIEWS |
YOUTUBE |
NEWS
|
EDITORIALS | EVENTS |
AUDIO |
ESSAYS |
ARCHIVES |
CONTACT
|
PHOTOS |
COMING SOON|
EXAMINER.COM FILM ARTICLES
||HOME
Wednesday, May 29, 2013
MOVIE REVIEW
Trance
Hypnotic States And Rearranged Psychologies
Rosario Dawson as Elizabeth in Danny Boyle's mystery psychodrama "Trance".
Fox
Searchlight
by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com
FOLLOW
Wednesday,
May 29,
2013
Over the years Danny Boyle and
viscera have been well acquainted in the director's films, forming a unique,
unmistakable relationship cementing an approximation of his big screen
characters' physical feelings. This symbiotic has been chronicled to fine
effect in "Trainspotting",
"Slumdog Millionaire" and most recently
"127 Hours",
but in Mr. Boyle's new drama "Trance", his penchant for the visceral
feels more like an exercise in titillation for the audience than an authentic sensation for
the film's characters to absorb and experience.
"Trance", a glossy, lurid and dizzying spectacle, tells its story from at least
one perspective as art dealer employee Simon (James McAvoy) takes a nasty knock
to head during a heist of a billion-dollar painting at a New York City auction
house. Simon isn't exactly an innocent bystander in the crime, as his
cohorts led by Franck (Vincent Cassel) torture him in an effort to get Simon to
recall what he did with the prized painting. They recruit Elizabeth
(Rosario Dawson) a hypnotherapist, to bring Simon's memories of the heist back.
Things get more curious.
Shot in a similar color scheme to what you'd see on a CAT scan image, "Trance"
is stylish, arresting and well-made. The film's ending has the year's
biggest "wow" factor, but the problem with "Trance" is that nothing preceding
the breathless conclusion merits the ending. Some of Mr. Boyle's images
are confounding, appearing to have no particular relationship with the
narrative. "Trance", while at times riveting, is a curious cocktail.
In Elizabeth Ms. Dawson is served up as a male sex fantasy of desire and
longing, and the character's moments of nudity are gratuitous and beyond
Elizabeth's protocol, even with her relationship to the story and its
surrounding characters. As admittedly pleasurable to look at as Ms. Dawson
is in these and other moments there's an exploitative feel to them that takes
you out of the story. The character's nudity destroys anything Elizabeth
has to offer as a substantive player, and an attempt to restore her core, as
remarkable as the ending is, remains contrived and half-hearted.
That's not to say that Ms. Dawson isn't good here -- she is -- it's merely to
illustrate that her character, like the film itself, is an illusion, expediently
served up for our eyes only. Sensual, suggestive and witty, Elizabeth is
as hypnotic as the trade she trafficks in. Simon, meanwhile, isn't built
up enough as a character to have a soul that runs any deeper than the film's
stylings. The film's cards are held close to the vest until the reveal
plays out in fantastic fashion. The engine of "Trance" runs and hums
deeper than any of its characters do, and Mr. Boyle's magic tricks of color,
cinematography and choreography take hold for only so long.
Also with: Danny Sapani, Matt Cross, Wahab Sheikh.
"Trance", released in April, continues to
play across the U.S. and Canada. The film is rated R by the Motion
Picture Association Of America for sexual content, graphic nudity, violence,
some grisly images, and language.
The film's running time is one hour and forty-one minutes.
COPYRIGHT 2013. POPCORNREEL.COM. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
FOLLOW
MOVIE REVIEWS |
INTERVIEWS |
YOUTUBE |
NEWS
|
EDITORIALS | EVENTS |
AUDIO |
ESSAYS |
ARCHIVES |
CONTACT
| PHOTOS |
COMING SOON|
EXAMINER.COM FILM ARTICLES
||HOME