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Trance (15)

Trance (15)

Crime, Drama, Thriller

An art auctioneer who has become mixed up with a group of criminals partners with a hypnotherapist in order to recover a lost painting.


The critical consensus

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.

****(*)Tom Dawson, The List, 14/03/2013

Well, even the greatest directors can falter. This is just a minor blip in Boyle's remarkable career.

**(*)(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 20/03/2013

It's hard to say how well Trance will live in the memory, but it's a great ride while it lasts.

****(*)Philip Concannon, The Skinny, 22/03/2013

Trance isn’t a bad film, just an underwhelming one, yet still worth catching if you are in a susceptible mood.

***(*)(*)Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 24/03/2013

Though it rings ever so slightly hollow as cool shades into callousness, this exercise in sexy suspense and brain-scrambling mystery is a dazzling, absorbing entertainment which shows off Danny Boyle’s mastery of complex storytelling and black, black humour.

****(*)Kim Newman, Empire Online, 25/03/2013

It’s perhaps a small consolation that the failure of [past films] did kick-start the next phase of his brilliant career. Perhaps Trance will do the same.

**(*)(*)(*)Alistair Harkness, The Scotsman, 28/03/2013

If Trance has a problem, it's just that it is so shallow and slippery that we don't know who to root for.

***(*)(*)Laurence Phelan, The Independent, 29/03/2013

Boyle's Olympics triumph deserves its place in the collective memory – I can't envisage this film lingering nearly so long.

**(*)(*)(*)Anthony Quinn, The Independent, 28/03/2013

One assumes Boyle had a blast making it. As a distraction from the pressures of organizing his stunning opening ceremony it has already performed a valuable service.

***(*)(*)Henry Fitzherbert, Daily Express, 28/03/2013

Boyle's directing often strikes me as the cinematic equivalent of 1980s pop production – you'd have liked the songs a lot better without all the reverbed drums, treated guitars and synthesisers stacked to the rafters.There's cinematic mastery here, no doubt, but of a decidedly empty sort.The result isn't so much trance as de luxe torpor.

**(*)(*)(*)Jonathan Romney, The Independent, 30/03/2013

You’re never quite sure where it’s going and that’s the best kind of compliment you can pay it.

****(*)Ross Miller, The Journal, 30/03/2013

Trance is what happens when one of our finest filmmakers himself regresses into a past life: it’s far from perfect, but you can hardly begrudge him the trip.

***(*)(*)Robbie Collin, The Telegraph, 28/03/2013

There's a lot of retina-frazzling style but a frustrating lack of substance.

**(*)(*)(*)Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian, 28/03/2013

Pulsing with loud style, it's a vibrant, vibey joyride.

***(*)(*)Jonathan Crocker, Little White Lies, 25/03/2013

The less you know about this and most other matters before you see it, the more you're likely to enjoy it.

Philip French, The Observer, 31/03/2013

A snaky, mind-bending heist thriller which is sure to prove divisive, Trance sees Danny Boyle at both his best and worst.

***(*)(*)Stephen Carty, Flix Capacitor, 31/03/2013


Features about Trance (15)

Vincent Cassel talks Trance and Danny Boyle

Siobhan Synnot, The Scotsman, 24/03/2013

Where and when?

General release. Check local listings for show times.

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