Trance (2013) - Review

Before I get rolling I need to ask a rhetorical, "Where is the love?" I guess winning a Best Picture Oscar for Slumdog Millionaire, and acting as Artistic Director for the critically AND publicly acclaimed (no small feat) 2012 Summer Olympics Opening Ceremonies, aren't strong enough credentials to warrant ample promotional coverage for Danny Boyle's most recent film.  What does a filmmaker have to do to get a trailer aired on television anyway?

But I digress.  Maybe it's for the best that Trance wasn't given the full studio marketing treatment.  With a film as cerebral and layered in its storytelling, mass appeal may not be the immediate result upon its screening.

At first, Trance may excite some loyal Boyle fans as the film appears to refer back to the dark tone, creative visual style, and fast pace utilized in his early works.  The audience is immediately reminded of Trainspotting and Ewan McGregor's iconic portrayal of heroin addict Renton, as Simon (James McAvoy) opens the film with a similarly narrated monologue.  He describes the intricate protocol of his role as an employee during high priced fine art auctioneering, and more specifically, the security measures he must take to defend against a potential theft or heist.  And much like Renton, the viewer learns that the seemingly likable Simon is no innocent bystander within his environment.  The stage is then set for the inevitable smuggling of a multi-million dollar painting.

Problems arise when Simon is knocked unconscious during the robbery and subsequently suffers from clinically diagnosed amnesia.  Franck (Vincent Cassel) and Simon's other accomplices don't take kindly to the convenient forgetfulness and come up with some inventive ways of retrieving the whereabouts of the painting.  After extracting most of Simon's fingernails, the crew finally settles on hypnotherapy to be conducted by Dr. Elizabeth Lamb (Rosario Dawson) as the best method to reveal the shrouded memory.  Unfortunately for all parties involved, it is not as simple as a quick question and answer session to determine the painting's location.  Each character's circumstances spiral negatively out of control amidst Dr. Lamb's motives, and Simon's guarded and fractured mind.

As with most Boyle films, the visual creativity and aesthetic are top notch.  The use of color to reflect character themes is delicately orchestrated.  Reflections, superimposed images, and fragmented composition work well as visual motifs for Simon's deteriorating mental state.  Eccentric character behavior offer numerous instances of foreshadowing for the meticulous viewer.   Boyle utilizes these techniques with ease, and ultimately crafts a tightly wound, fast paced work that challenges the viewer's ability to balance between plot truth and surreality.

Unfortunately, the film is more than just technical achievement and has some significant weaknesses.  One of the hardest things to accept is the main concept of the film.  I found it difficult to swallow the simplicity of character hypnosis and their subsequent manipulation throughout the story.  Apparently Dr. Lamb's voice is the physical manifestation of the effects produced by Ambien and a Pink Floyd laser show.  She speaks, and in seconds characters are completely mesmerized and vulnerable.  But this is cinema and not real life.  Perhaps most viewers can (and should?) suspend their disbelief regarding this plot convention.

The real problem deals with the intertwining story threads and timelines.  Trance has been frequently compared to a less grandiose Inception and for justifiable reasons.  The audience is similarly traveling deeper and deeper into a complex strata of character subconsciousness.  With each respective hypnosis that Simon is guided under, another layer of his psyche is peeled back for the audience to decipher.  Past vs. present, and real vs. imagined events become increasingly clouded.  During the exciting and more action oriented final third of the film, the viewer may be more inclined to enjoy the ride rather than struggling with understanding the outcome.

Even when not at his best, Danny Boyle is still as strong a cinematic craftsman as they come.  He is technically gifted and is more than proficient in equally handling character development, suspense, and action.  However, it is how he handles the clarity (or lack thereof) of multiple perspectives and mental planes which is problematic.  Similar to being in a dream, you can "see" the basic form of the story, but frustratingly just out of arm's reach you can't grab a hold of it.  I doubt Trance is the film that Boyle wants to define his career, but it's still better than most of the work his colleagues are putting out.

Evil Dead (2013) - Review (contains spoilers!!!)

All the hardcore Raimi-ists out there who are eager to bash this film because it doesn't hold a candle to the original, or because it shouldn't have even been tampered with in the first place, please just relax.  While I may agree with you, I know for a fact that the original The Evil Dead will remain a classic of cult proportions.  Its reputation will remain untarnished.  This modern reboot is exactly that, which is a fresh take on an old idea, so it is meant to be different no matter how sacrilegious you think it may be.  And let's not forget, both Sam AND Bruce Campbell had producer/supervisor roles on the 2013 version.

That being said, I'm surprised Raimi and Campbell didn't try to exert more of their creative influence upon first time feature director Fede Alvarez.  While the film never pretends to be anything other than a bare bones linear horror film, outside of the the visual and makeup effects Evil Dead just doesn't achieve much else in terms of production ingenuity, scare tactics, or overall storytelling.  Don't expect to find ANY of the off-beat humor found throughout the original franchise.  When compared to most other horror flicks, much less the ground breaking original, the film simply maintains the status quo.

The cinematic setting remains roughly the same as the 1981 version, when five twenty somethings meet to stay at a cabin in the woods completely isolated from civilization.  Always a good idea.  The most original idea of the movie (which is saying something) concerns why the characters have assembled in the first place, as the group has convened in order to help their friend Mia kick her long standing drug addiction.  No one can leave and thereby give up on Mia, despite the warning signs of blood stained floors and a basement filled with sacrificed cats (perhaps a heavy handed way of highlighting what happens when a feline is just too curious?).  Soon after the group settles in the cabin for the foreseeable future, they unintentionally release an evil spirit that sets out to swiftly destroy each of them after possessing our unlucky ex-drug user.  But no matter what occurs, the friends must keep Mia in the house to make sure she overcomes... ahem, her inner demons.  The point is driven home repeatedly and annoyingly, which as you can probably guess, allows for all manner of ridiculous happenings before the group realizes something is out of the ordinary.

The blame for the failings of Evil Dead has to fall squarely on the shoulders of director and co-writer Alvarez.  Outside of the strong tortured performance of Jane Levy in the role of Mia, the other actors limp along begging to be put out of their misery.  Flat and emotionless, the friends sharing an apparent collective IQ of about 12, walk around this death trap of a house wondering out loud about what has befallen them.  Hint:  your girlfriend might be possessed if she suddenly begins to carve off her face with a shard of broken mirror, then begins to pursue you like a starving zombie, and repeatedly stabs you in the face and chest with whatever sharpened objects she can get her hands on.  What is incredible is that there is absolutely no sense of extreme fear, hysteria, or terror amongst the clique.  In fact, most of these people seem downright clear-headed as their friends are maimed and dying off at the hands of the controlling wraith.

Given, not everyone goes to the movies (especially a horror film) for top filmmaking quality, or to "feel" something.  Some cinephiles just want to see their films filled with action, blood, and gore, which is where this film is surely triumphant.  There are truly creative visual effects with fantastic prosthetic and makeup work, and I applaud the choice to forego the utilization of CGI.  Dismemberment, blood purging, stabbings, and slashings, amongst many other gruesome injuries are all pulled off with wild success.  It just isn't enough to carry the film.

The film moves at a brisk pace from character setup, to demon summoning, and right on through the subsequent death toll.  While this acceleration of development thankfully keeps the runtime at a tolerable level, it's also too quick and constant to evoke any real emotional response.  The audience is never able to connect or empathize with the thinly written characters, and the lack of tempo change eliminates any potential thrills.  Without the occasional slow climb, the viewer never gets the dramatic roller coaster drop.  I was always ready and expecting the next inevitable brutalization.  At the predictable conclusion of the film when our hero prevails, in albeit glorious chainsaw induced blood splatter, the scene should have been the type of cinematic moment that would illicit an ovation from the theater audience.  Instead, one could feel a collective sigh of relief knowing the credits were seconds away.

Evil Dead is nothing but a mildly entertaining festival of gore, but unfortunately the beauty (gore) here is merely the polish barely hiding the inadequate surface underneath.  Without any other element (humor, suspense, compassion, logic, etc.) to help offset and benefit the horror tale, it's difficult to rally behind cringeworthy death after death after death..