Set in 1990s Belfast, an active member of the IRA becomes an informant for MI5 in order to protect her son's welfare.
Not unlike Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, this slow-burn saga takes its time. But the attention it calls for pays off down the line thanks to riveting performances and tense, water-tight plotting.
Shadow Dancer shares some of the moral gloom of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy but since it lacks Le Carré’s inventive pretzels of spy intrigue, the plotting plays out with the doggedness, if not the verve, of an episode of Spooks.
Director James Marsh (Man on Wire, Project Nim) provokes audience anxiety throughout, balancing the family’s vengeful mourning against the political manoeuvring of the period.
Consequently the gut-wrenching tension that makes Shadow Dancer such an enjoyably uncomfortable experience in its early stages gives way to a sluggishness that ultimately makes it hard to endure for all the wrong reasons.
This slow-burning drama occasionally dwindles away to a smoulder.
Marsh's movie is calm, level, downbeat. The tension is subtle – perhaps subtler than it really should be.
As beige as an old PC, but beneath the surface the blood pumps bright scarlet. An intelligent and emotionally charged spy drama.
Marsh the storyteller doesn't fall down on his dramatic duties. He may paint in the beiges and greens of the times, but this is a political thriller alive with colour.
Underlying his background in documentary, [the director] brings nuance and richness to what, in other hands, might have been just another generic thriller.
It stumbles a little with later plot twists but you care so much for Colette you’re willing to give it the benefit of the doubt.
A timid look at terror.
Gripping.
While the rest of Marsh's film is similarly grown-up and assured, there's nothing else in it that reaches the same level. It's certainly a smaller, more muted story than the opening act would suggest.
Edinburgh Filmhouse, Edinburgh from Friday August 24, 2012, until Thursday September 13, 2012. More info: www.filmhousecinema.com
General release. Check local listings for show times.
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