FILM list.co.uk/film
TRANCE Danny Boyle’s stylish thriller about an art heist that goes wrong
D irector Danny Boyle has a flair for making vibrant, zeitgeist-capturing films about characters in extreme situations ultimately overcoming the odds – whether it’s an Edinburgh heroin addict in Trainspotting, a teenaged Mumbai orphan accused of cheating in the final of India’s Who Wants to be a Millionaire? in Slumdog Millionaire, or a hiker forced to saw off his own trapped arm in 127 Hours. Boyle’s latest, the genre- blending Trance – a remake of Joe Ahearne’s 2001 TV movie – continues this tradition.
The unreliable narrator is Simon (James McAvoy), an employee of a prestigious London auction house, who’s the inside man on an art heist carried out by French gangster Franck (Vincent Cassel). Knocked over by a car during his escape, Simon is diagnosed with amnesia, and Franck insists on finding out the whereabouts of the rare Goya painting that was stolen. Once torture has failed to deliver the necessary
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information, a beautiful Harley Street hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) is tasked with helping Simon to retrieve his buried memories. Digitally shot with real panache by regular Boyle cinematographer Antony Dod Mantle, there’s much to enjoy here, including the multiple deceptions of the double-crossing participants and the trio of assured performances. Yet it remains, like Steven Soderbergh’s Side Effects, very much what Quentin Tarantino would call a ‘movie- movie’, a self-aware, genre-subverting piece of postmodernism which culminates in a deliberately OTT finale. Unlike the best Nick Roeg, David Lynch or Christopher Nolan films, it lacks the emotional power that might haunt a viewer’s memory. (Tom Dawson)
General release from Wed 27 Mar. (15) 101 min ●●●●●
HITLIST THE BEST FILM RELEASES & EVENTS
✽ Trance Anticipation is high for Danny Boyle’s first film post-Olympics. No
parachuting royalty here though, Trance is the story of an amnesiac art auctioneer, a group of criminals and a hypnotist. See review, left. General release from Fri 22 Mar.
✽ Good Vibrations Inspiring biopic on Terri
Hooley, the man behind Belfast’s Good Vibrations record store and label, with an excellent performance from Richard Dormer. See review, page 63. Limited release from Fri 29 Mar.
✽ The Gatekeepers Oscar-nominated documentary about the heads of Israel’s
intelligence agency Shin Bet. Thoughtful, intelligent and unflinching. See review, page 65. Limited release from Fri 12 Apr.
✽ In the House The latest drama from
prolific French filmmaker Francois Ozon finds an English teacher drawn into
the fictional world created by a compelling young writer in his class. See review, page 62. Limited release from Fri 29 Mar.
✽ Mea Maxima Culpa: Silence in the House of God It’s a strong month for docs, and they don’t come more timely than Ryan Gilbey’s investigation into a child abuse cover up by the Catholic church, with connections to the Pope Emeritus. See review, page 62. Limited release from Fri 29 Mar.
✽ 85A The endlessly creative collective present their Soviet propaganda-inspired
film Chernozem, with a pre- and post party. We like their thinking. See preview, page 68. The Flying Duck and GFT, Glasgow, Fri 29 Mar.