Martin I. Petrov

REVIEW: The captive by Atom Egoyan, Canada – 67e Festival De Cannes Competition

The master of psychological thrillers Atom Egoyan returns to the Croisette with a rather stiffand mostly predictable story based on true events from his native Canada.

The Captivetakes us to an undisturbed, rather boring small community living around theNiagara Falls. The idyllic atmosphere is smashed ina moment when the nine year oldCassandra disappears without any trace from the back seat of her father’s (Ryan Reynolds)car.

Covering eight years of exhaustive research, Egoyanfollows his well-established technique ofgoing back and forth in time to tell his story. Sometimes is even unclear if these numerousflashbacks are there to confuse or shed light on the storyline. For two hours he adds andmatches details to the puzzle of events that lead to the untangling of the mystery behind theyoung girls' disappearance.

Egoyan introduces one by one his characters, starting from the passionate and obsessiveprivate investigator Nicole (Rosario Dawson) and her impulsive colleague Jeffrey (ScottSpeedman) and concluding with Kevin Durand as a paedophile kidnapper, in probably themost noticeable performance of the film.

Touching on various issues the film is potentiallyan interesting observation on thephenomenon of paedophilia that remains common in great parts of Canada and the US. Whatis achieved though is a totally flat narration thatpersists on obvious details instead of diggingdeeper into the characters' psychosis, thing that makes them look demotivated and bizarrelyout of time and space. The image is probably the only captivating part of the film, withbreathtaking landscapes and perfectly shaped spherical angles that create the controversialfeeling of hostile and engaging at the same time.

The Captiveis a carbon copy of Egoyan’s 1997 thrillerThe sweet hereafter. The snowylandscape, the eternal winter - although in The Captive the story covers eight consequentyears – and the plot itself, the two films are thesame card played twice - thing that obviouslydoesn't look good outside of the Hollywood blockbuster genre.

All in all, Egoyan creates the atmosphere of a wellexecuted thriller, especially in the secondhour where the tension is kept on higher levels. However, both acting and directing seemover-polished and extremely staged, throwing the film totally on the other side of the river -this of non-festival films. The characters remain isolated and unapproachable and no matterhow much one tries to connect to the story, there is always a sudden push-back.

With a digestible scenario that almost no one couldhate,The captive does not contribute to Egoyan’s career as a distinguished filmmaker but it certainly is an alternative to an overall heavier Competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.