Trance

Movie Name: Trance
Year of Release: 2013

Director: Danny Boyle

Stars: James McAvoy, Vincent Cassel, Rosario Dawson, Danny Sapani, Matt Cross, Mark Poltimore, Wahab Sheikh, Tuppence Middleton

Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller

Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 8

Synopsis:

The ever fantastic Danny Boyle is back, following "127 Hours" and the Oscar winning "Slumdog Millionaire". "Trance", his latest feature, bears some similarities with his debut, "Shallow Grave", but the narrative goes in different directions and is an overall successful concept and execution.
The film follows the story of Simon, a young auctioneer, who gets involved in a scheme to steal a very well know and valuable piece of art, with a small group of accomplices. The heist however takes a wrong turn, Simon loses memory of what happened to the stolen painting, and the group resorts to a hypnotherapist to help him overcome that mental obstacle. Elizabeth Lamb, the doctor, becomes involved with the group, and as the dynamics change, things start unraveling for all the characters.
"Trance" will immediately bring to mind the traditions of film noir, namely the flips of the story and characters, very much in the tradition of what Lawrence Kasdan achieved with "Body Heat". Danny Boyle successfully creates a world filled with questions, where the events and connections between the characters slowly start peeling away. The story is built like a russian doll, with each level bringing further insight to the characters and propelling the narrative forward. As usual in Danny Boyle's films, he places his focus on an anti-hero (for instance Renton from "Trainspotting" or Robert Capa from "Sunshine"), he pulls the viewer to his perspective, though this time around, that same central character has some surprises in store. The film benefits from the stunning cinematography from Anthony Dod Mantle and a beautiful score from Rick Smith (from the band Underworld). The three central leads are all uniformly great. A wonderful film worth watching.