The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Monday, April 22, 2013 -- 7A

Hypnotizing 'Trance'
thrills with cerebral story

FINE ARTSCOLUMN
Confronting
a fear offirst
drafts

A mesmerizing
Rosario Dawson
shines
By ANDREW MCCLURE
Daily Arts Writer
The Psychological Thriller:
an ambitious project for any
filmmaker. Though most of them
suck, and the
label itself has B
grown a shitty
connotation, Trance
they can com-
pel if they're AtState
resourceful Fox Searchlight
with charac-
ter depth, plot
tangents and original insights.
"Silence of the Lambs" (1991)
and "Memento" (2000) embody
this formula to perfection. They
confound and trip you up with-
out ever losing grip of your mini
attention span. "Trance" follows
the formula, too, but inflates its
details to overcapacity.
Director Danny Boyle ("127
Hours") is no stranger to the
collective audience gasp and
cringe - think of the dead baby
crawling on the ceiling in his
"Trainspotting." He disrupts
any predictability in your emo-
tions, as he did through his zom-
bies in the scary-as-hell "28 Days
Later" or the nerve-ripper, "127
Hours." If you consider yourself
unfeeling, Boyle will quash your
streak. "Trance" allows him
to enter an increasingly perti-
nent realm in these digital days:
obsession.
Simon is an art auctioneer
(James McAvoy, "X-Men: First
Class"), and his secrets used to
haunt him. Now, he's golden and
has forgotten the dirty past. In
the event of a highly efficient
heist to steal a priceless Goya
painting, Simon's ready to dodge
the bullet. During his getaway,
he receives a hard bludgeon
to the brainpan - effectively
unerasing certain erased memo-
ries. In other words, his brain
goes berserk. Captured by the
criminals, Simon is forced to
sign up to see a shrink to hope-
fully unearth where he hid the
Goya.
Immediately, Simon and his
therapist Elizabeth (Rosario
Dawson, "Zookeeper") share
an inexplicable bond, as if they
had once known each other.
Eventually, Elizabeth catches
on to the antics of Simon and
confirms she "wants in" on the
deal: extract the memory imag-
es inside Simon to lead them to
the painting. Simple, right?
Simon's thought patterns
inundate themselves with imag-
es of Elizabeth, not the paint-

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nce, I wrote this terrible slammed with four papers due
story for my creative within a few days of each other,
writing class. It was all seven-page monsters and, oh,
ow a princess waited yeah, don't forget the chemistry
r her prince to come back midterm! Everythingsucked,
ar, and I didn't have time to focus
find on "getting the bad writing out
unded of the way," because I was too
is busy sinking.
It And so, the bad-writing hab-
ak, it its began. I wrote defensively,
, it fit preventing any wrong word
gn- from slipping out - I didn't
but it ANNA trust myself to write without
1 ter- S getting off-track, and so the
mean, things I wrote were safe, boring
as no and, sometimes, terrifying.
er development, no pur- I was in my Upper-Level
anyone's actions. It was Writing class, toiling away on
ike muddling through my comparison of Dostoevsky
," only worse, because I and Tolstoy, when my friend
ven before I started writ- first brought it up: "Do you ever
it would be bad, butI get too scared to write?" At first
nyway. I didn't understand the ques-
any other skill, writing tion. It's not like essays were a
me. Not even "good" dangerous mission - the worst
- just writing succinct- thing that could happen was
ectly, grammatically carpal tunnel.
me. All the flourishes But soon, it started mak-
listic touches come ing sense. Staring at an open
ater. But every time I sit document, the single blank page
o write, I don't really let waitingto be filled is daunting.
practice. Rather, I spend Writing badly is intimidat-
h time possible fixing ing. Filling up 20 pages with
mistakes before I make excellent phrases like "his skin
was like marble, only soft" is
mortifying. And so, writing
defensively and dispassionately
)thin more is abetter alternative to finding
enough time to weed through
inting than a hours of poorly written plot and
dialogue.
ldank page. Perhaps the reason more
people aren't writers is because
no one has time to witness
their stupidity over and over
is not a good thing. again. Maybe there are few
in any other pursuit, and far between courageous
in on faults is a quick enough to spend the time
identify the small prob- needed confronting their inner
fore they erupt into writer. Even now, as I write this
But writing isn't as easy column, I'm reminded of my
it" and "wrong," and unedited draft waiting in my
es can often lead to great- documents. It sends a shiver of
panic down my spine: Do I ace
rote like 20 pages before the paper, spending far more
the good stuff. It's like time than I have on it, or do
get the bad writing out I study for my midterm? Do I
vay in order to reach the conquer my fear or doI cower,
my high school English prolongingthe inevitable spew-
would endlessly tell us. ing of shitty writing? Maybe I'll
sten, engrossed, feeling start tackling the art of writing
gout the importance of well this summer. Or, maybe
. A simple concept, and not. The possibilities, though
ibly deceiving: Though few, seem hard to accept.
may benefit from dili- But somewhere, among the
sappointment, not many archived essays and B+ papers,
ubjects do. there's a document dedicated to
ed by my high school the suckage that is my bad writ-
nces, I reached the Uni- ing, and every once ina while,
with high hopes. Young the number of pages grows.

"What do you mean you haven't seen 'Atonement."

ing. An obsession, a mania, is
underway. Now they all must
play against the clock to save
what might be long gone. But
Elizabeth's game of hypnosis
distances them from reality,
instead drifting into sub-reali-
ties that mask truth and adorn
lies.
McAvoy essentially plays a
toddler - always curious yet
overwhelmingly ignorant of
all actuality. He rarely pro-
gresses with his objective, liter-
ally freezing when he thinks of
Elizabeth. One moment shows
Simon getting electroshocked
for every thought of Elizabeth;
he convulses despite the nonex-
istent electroshocks. Yeah, he's
whipped. He wins the dual-role

of maniac and mannequin, giv-
ing his manipulators precisely
what they need.
Dawson tantalizes like that
unattainable babysitter you
crushed on in elementary
school. She's too smart for us,
and her stoic face trivializes
every toothy smile we "think"
means something. Her motives
could be ulterior, superior or
entirely predictable - we'll
never know because she masters
the art of "tease." Insisting, "We
keep secrets from ourselves, and
that's called forgetting," Eliza-
beth doesn't let us forget her.
"Trance" is a film about for-
getting. Visually, Boyle ven-
tures into a forgetful place,
often revisiting unexplained

dreamlike venues, blurring
every other shot and flooding
vivid rainbows into frames. The
camera's eye prefers whirlwind
speeds and constant discomfort
to poetic air-gliding. We careen
into inner projections before
realizing where we were origi-
nally. Boyle makes sure you're
always a tad puzzled but still
antsy to battle onward.
Once the whodunit template
tires out, the residue weighs
more than three good actors
in an OK movie tantamount
to Soderbergh's recent "Side
Effects." Rather, it corners us to
entertain an everyday dilemma:
Do you want to remember or
forget? Both can hurt, but Boyle
suggests thinking for yourself.

've, I signed up for mul-
iglish courses, hoping to
te on my self-righteous
path. And then, I was

Sadovskaya is working
on a rewrite. To help, e-mail
asado@umich.edu.

Judging people based on the
content of their TV characters

By RADHIKA MENON
Daily Arts Writer
If within five minutes of
meeting me you reveal that
you love "Friday Night Lights,"
chances are I will pronounce
you my newly christened BFF.
The same goes for "30 Rock,"
"Breaking Bad" and "Lost," to
name a few others. But if you
even mention "Two and a Half
Men" around me, you can get
out of my face.
I tend to judge people based
on their taste in television.
I don't even feel catty about
doing it - it's my chosen win-
dow into one's soul. Television
is a growing medium that con-
tinuously churns out some of
the best visual content. So, if
you're watching shitty televi-
sion, that's your own fault. You
will be scrutinized.
It was a cold winter day last
January when I was hanging
out with my friend in his apart-
ment. Bundled beneath blan-
kets, he turned the TV on and

his eyes lit up when they landed
on the words "The Big Bang
Theory" in the guide.
My eyes rolled deeply within
their sockets.
What followed was the most
boring 30 minutes of television
I have ever had to endure, and I
wouldn't wish it upon my worst
enemy. As that dull half hour
dragged on, I found myself not
laughing. That's fine - the show
isn't for everyone. But I realized
that every time he laughed, I
scoffed and prayed for the show
to end, both right now and per-
manently. "How does he like
this crap?" I wondered. And as
his laughs piled up, my annoy-
ance did, too.
I left his apartment that
day with uneasiness about the
future of our friendship. If he
could laugh at a Chuck Lorre
creation, could I really continue
to respect him? If he didn't find
Jim Parsons to be the most irri-
tating actor on television, how
in God's name were we sup-
posed to agree on anything?

His i
out to I
acted n
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dea of "hilarious" turns always right. Two summers ago,
be a poorly written and I tried watchingthe critical dar-
erdy comedy. Mine hap- ling "Mad Men." I mean, I really
be the complete oppo- tried. But damn, season one is
hrow around the phrase about as dry as they come. So
respect" for people I gave up and badmouthed the
n their tastes, and I wish show to everyone who loved it,
n't true. But something totally and completely judging
f me cringes when I dis- them for loving this snoozefest.
Wy eyes will get as big as But then I got to season two.
balls, and I will kindly And then season three. Shit, I
u the door. So, when my was hooked. Quickly my feel-
claimed that "The Big ings toward those who had sung
heory" was one of his its praises changed - I was
shows, I couldn't help now one of them. Soon I began
a tiny bit of respect for judging those who didn't watch
it, even though I knew exactly
where they were coming from.
Right or wrong, in crowd or out
not oing to crowd, I was still judging peo-
notgoipe.
rour friend if A person's television choices
reflect his or her personality.
watch 'Two The shows that I deem my favor-
ites reflect my ideas of humor,
a Half M en. crisp characters and storytell-
ing, and overall quality produc-
tion. I know that no one is right
or wrong, but that doesn't mean
that's not to say that I'm I'm not judging you.

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SUMMER AT
THE DAILY.
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THAN YOU THINK.
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DESCHANEL THAN YOU THINK.
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