I’ve been a fan of Danny Boyle since Shallow Grave, and what a career he has had since then. Trainspotting, Slumdog Millionaire, 28 Days Later and 127 hours which had a plot that would seemingly guarantee a miserable viewing experience. Instead, like all his films, it was an effervescent riot of colour, camera angles and music; much more joy than you could reasonably expect from a ninety minute story about a man who gets his arm trapped by a boulder and ends up hacking it off with a blunt knife.
Then Danny went on to direct the opening sequence to the 2012 Olympic Games and managed to stir a moment of patriotism in even this most cynical of souls. What would he do next?
The answer was Trance and I sat down to watch it a couple of nights ago while she who must be obeyed was taking her staff for dinner.
James McAvoy works for a fine art auctioneer and becomes involved in the theft of a valuable painting. During the robbery he is hit on the head and wakes up not remembering what he did with the painting. The rest of the gang, having removed a selection of his fingernails just to be sure he has really lost his memory, send him to a hypnotist, played by the extremely fragrant Rosario Dawson.
From that point on, it is clear that everything is not what it seems, and with real life being mixed up with experiences under hypnosis, it is best just to sit back, enjoy Mr. Boyle’s outstanding visuals and cracking soundtrack, and let the movie take you to what I found to be a very satisfying conclusion.
It’s the sort of movie you want to watch more than once, so I sat my wife down the following evening and enjoyed it for a second time.
I always felt that Danny Boyle deserved something special as a reward for his work on the Olympics, but having seen the delights of most of Rosario Dawson during this film, I think the relationship they had after working together is more than enough reward for a job well done.