Trance movie review

[bhat]

Trance ends up as an absolute farce. There is no polite way of putting it. A haphazardly put together maze like this is the last thing you expect from a film maker of Anwar Rasheed’s stature and industry experience. Probably Anwar was consciously trying to bring to the fore the directorial flair which he was only able to explore so far in the anthology films he has been a part of. But after watching the film you wonder whether he has pushed the mantle a bit too far.

I am all for unconventional storytelling, but you simply cannot begin on the lines of an existential mood piece and then abruptly shift to drama territory and after some time become something else altogether. I see a lot of praise for the first half. But even that seemed like “distant” film making to me. Very little of it affects you in any way. Is it way too much to ask for some emotional connect? Why isn’t there a single memorable piece of conversation between Fahad’s and Sreenath Bhasi’s characters? The one that is there is not good enough. Why do these film makers fear clich?s so much? Yet they cannot spare the mandatory gruesome execution scene in the climax. They cannot spare the role of a heroine, so one has to be shoehorned in the most contrived way resulting in a redundant track that slows down a movie that has been struggling to pick up the pace ever since its beginning.

The problems with this movie is way too many. But few bizzare scenes in the second half makes you wonder whether the director was purposefully toying with our patience. The only intelligent thing about the film is the decision to cast Fahad in the central role. A showy performance like this, which the actor does well, might have seemed too OTT in a Sathyan Anthikad film but perfectly fits the bill here. Fahad no doubt aces the motivational training sequences. Another actor who leaves a mark despite the lesser screen time is the impeccable Vinayakan. The only watchable scenes in the second half are the ones involving him. Liked Soubin’s voice modulation in the interview sequence. The film is impressively staged and shot. The production values are top notch. But unfortunately that is all it has got to it.

[Saathan]

thanks......

[ClubAns]

Thanks bhat.........