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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 popcornreel on Twitter 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.   

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