THE GIRL ON THE TRAIN
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“I want to start my life over again.” If you thought they just don’t make psycho-thrillers like they used to, think again.
“I want to start my life over again.” If you thought they just don’t make psycho-thrillers like they used to, think again.
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Tate Taylor (The Help) proves otherwise with this stylish, murderous tale that would give both Adrian Lyne and Glenn Close a run for their money. What gives it a fresh spin on its Fatal Attraction roots is the whodunnit nature of the story, one that slowly draws into focus over two exhilarating hours.
Rachel, Anna and Megan all pitch their case in opening monologues, but it’s Rachel, the girl on the train, who captures interest mostly because Anna and Megan have caught hers. They’re neighbours whom she sees everyday from the same seat as her train goes to and from New York. She builds a fantasy about their lives although it becomes clear she actually knows more about them than we first realise. How much we can trust that realisation, or her fantasies, is uncertain because Rachel is an alcoholic who spends two thirds of her life drunk. Her problems started, possibly, when she was dumped by Tom, who’s now married to Anna. Further muddying a boggy pitch is the fact that Megan is their au pair.
The Girl On The Train is a complex tale and there’s enormous fun to be had in sorting out the narrative threads, in trying to make sense of Rachel’s irrational behaviour and booze sodden sense of reality, because at the heart of it all is a murder. There’s an imperative to get to the truth because someone did the killing and Rachel is beginning to think it might have been her – black outs are a curse.
Based on Paula Hawkins’ best-seller, Taylor is working to a script as taught as piano wire. Add Emily Blunt’s terrific performance (how can such a good looking woman appear so dowdy?) that perfectly captures a person living their life in vague snatches, like every day is hangover Sunday, which for her it is. Defocused, close-up camera work by Charlotte Bruus Christensen (The Hunt) is magnificent, and a jarring score by Danny Elfman (Big Eyes) rounds out excellent tech creds on a truly excellent and provocative thriller.
// COLIN FRASER
Previewed at the Event Cinemas, George St, Sydney, on 5 October 2016.
Rachel, Anna and Megan all pitch their case in opening monologues, but it’s Rachel, the girl on the train, who captures interest mostly because Anna and Megan have caught hers. They’re neighbours whom she sees everyday from the same seat as her train goes to and from New York. She builds a fantasy about their lives although it becomes clear she actually knows more about them than we first realise. How much we can trust that realisation, or her fantasies, is uncertain because Rachel is an alcoholic who spends two thirds of her life drunk. Her problems started, possibly, when she was dumped by Tom, who’s now married to Anna. Further muddying a boggy pitch is the fact that Megan is their au pair.
The Girl On The Train is a complex tale and there’s enormous fun to be had in sorting out the narrative threads, in trying to make sense of Rachel’s irrational behaviour and booze sodden sense of reality, because at the heart of it all is a murder. There’s an imperative to get to the truth because someone did the killing and Rachel is beginning to think it might have been her – black outs are a curse.
Based on Paula Hawkins’ best-seller, Taylor is working to a script as taught as piano wire. Add Emily Blunt’s terrific performance (how can such a good looking woman appear so dowdy?) that perfectly captures a person living their life in vague snatches, like every day is hangover Sunday, which for her it is. Defocused, close-up camera work by Charlotte Bruus Christensen (The Hunt) is magnificent, and a jarring score by Danny Elfman (Big Eyes) rounds out excellent tech creds on a truly excellent and provocative thriller.
// COLIN FRASER
Previewed at the Event Cinemas, George St, Sydney, on 5 October 2016.
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STARRING
Emily Blunt
Justin Theroux
Rebecca Ferguson
Luke Evans
DIRECTOR
Tate Taylor
SCREENWRITER
Erin Cressida Wilson
COUNTRY
USA
CLASSIFICATION
MA15+
RUNTIME
102 minutes
AUSTRALIAN
RELEASE DATE
October 6, 2016
Emily Blunt
Justin Theroux
Rebecca Ferguson
Luke Evans
DIRECTOR
Tate Taylor
SCREENWRITER
Erin Cressida Wilson
COUNTRY
USA
CLASSIFICATION
MA15+
RUNTIME
102 minutes
AUSTRALIAN
RELEASE DATE
October 6, 2016
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