Trance - Dangerous Memory - Blu-ray

Movie: After his Oscar win for Slumdog Millionaire and the Oscar-nominated drama 127 Hours, director Danny Boyle now returns with a film that won't win him any major awards, but is a highly entertaining reminder of why Boyle once achieved cult status. Trance - Dangerous Memory is a cleverly constructed thriller, which at the beginning seems to tell a very ordinary film noir story, but in the course of the plot has more than one surprise ready, by which the action is steered in a completely different direction.

It all begins with the robbery of an auction house, in which the young auctioneer Simon (James McAvoy) just auctioned an extremely valuable Goya. Simon manages to get the valuable painting to safety, but then he clashes with Franck (Vincent Cassel), the leader of the robbery gang. After the latter knocks him out with a blow to the head, Simon loses not only his senses but also his memory. After he is released from the hospital, Franck and his men are waiting for him. For Simon has planned the robbery together with the gangsters - only the blow on his head was not part of it. Now that Simon can't remember where he hid the Goya, Franck sends him to attractive hypnotherapist Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson) to help him regain his memory. But some locked doors are better left unopened...

Trance - Dangerous Memory is a classic Boyle in the best sense of the word. True, the kaleidoscopically told thriller doesn't quite reach the cult potential of Boyle's early works like Trainspotting. But it certainly manages to have a lasting effect. It succeeds not only by taking the plot in a new direction again and again, and also by the characters fundamentally changing in their nature and motivation. Also through the interplay of music, editing and intense imagery, Boyle succeeds in putting the viewer into a veritable frenzy, through which the film remains in the memory for a long time.

With a straightforward, more traditional production, the story would probably not have worked so well on its own and would have seemed completely implausible, especially towards the end. But Boyle has managed to conjure up an exciting puzzle out of the story, the composition of which is not only extremely exciting, but which also results in a picture at the end that one would not have expected in this way, despite a certain predictability. The fact that this works so well, however, is not solely due to the technical aspects of the film. The actors also contribute a lot to it, especially because they have to create their characters in a very complex way. And they all, but especially James McAvoy, manage this with bravura.

Trance - Dangerous Memory is a great thriller that offers the best entertainment on many levels. It's a visual trip that at times disturbs, then offers surprisingly amusing moments, that at times comes across as darkly brutal, then sexy and playful. The fact that Boyle managed to tell a rather ordinary story in such an original and captivating way leaves only one possible conclusion: absolutely worth seeing! And one more tip: avoid giving away too much about the plot twists - but especially about the ending - as much as possible. Because in the case of Trance - Dangerous Memory, the less you know beforehand, the more intense the effect of this film!

Image + Sound: With Danny Boyle, the sound design always plays a big role. Trance - Dangerous Memory is no different. It is all the more pleasing, of course, that this aspect also comes into its own in the home cinema version thanks to the successful DTS mix. The soundscape is very lively, with dialogue, music and sound effects all very well matched. The visuals are also absolutely convincing. The image is clean, the detail sharpness is excellent and the colouring is extremely atmospheric. For this there is a clear: Very good!

Extras: The Blu-ray has some good bonus features to offer. Starting off with seven deleted scenes (approx. 16:33 min.), where especially one longer sequence has really interesting and worth seeing moments to offer. Four short documentaries (together approx. 33:59 mins) then go into quite a lot of detail about the making of the film, the editing, the visual style and the director's working methods. Danny Boyle is then treated to another featurette (approx. 14:56 mins), in which the viewer is given a brief overview of the filmmaker's creative output to date. But this seems more like an appetizer, because his previous films simply can not be adequately illuminated in a scant quarter of an hour. Still, a very watchable short documentary.

Probably the most unusual extra is the short film Eugene (approx. 13:07 min.) by Spencer Susser. The story of a man who comes into possession of a very special laptop has nothing to do with Trance - Dangerous Memory, but is still really worth seeing.

Conclusion: Trance - Dangerous Memory is an intense visual trip that sometimes disturbs, then again offers surprisingly amusing moments, which sometimes comes across as darkly brutal, then again sexy and playful. With his convincing ensemble of actors and a surprise-laden script, Boyle perfectly manages to tell an inherently ordinary story in an original and engaging way. On the Blu-ray, the film presents itself in very good audiovisual realization and also the bonus material knows how to convince. For this there is a very clear: Absolutely recommendable!

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp