yoga-1-996510
I don't believe in censorship, but I do believe in consequences. How's this for an idea: take a generic male character, give him some sympathetic circumstances, slowly add "character" by revealing at a snail's pace nothing but at best irritating instincts and characteristics, then pull a long-telegraphed whammy by undoing the sympathetic circumstances, then have him do something truly disgusting, then have him watch some TV.Or, how about this: just film your own bowel movement? Same difference, and you could have saved us a lot of time.There is not one positive thing to say about this experience, other than I'm hoping it will prove to have been carcinogenic, and that mercifully I'll die soon and the painful memory of having sat through this visual bile along with it. I understand that studios have budgets they have to spend, or they'll get smaller budgets the next year. Dear BBC: next time, buy crack with your end-of-fiscal-year surplus. Do something at least plausibly worthwhile with your cash. How they found a Colin Firth lookalike to sleepwalk through this tripe begs the question as to why they would want to in the first place.
SnakesOnAnAfricanPlain
Firth awakens from a coma to discover his wife is dead and he is suspected of murdering a pop idol. This is a psychological thriller that isn't always so logical. What it is do, mostly thanks to Firth, is capture the sheer terror of people perceiving you as mad. It's a difficult job to truly make us believe that both reality and fantasy are possible. As Firth's mental state begins to crumble around him the film does lose some of its footing. It gets to a point where confusion and surprise become Evans' main objective. Thankfully, it's never a dull ride, and when one looks at the emotional destruction, it can seem so much more fulfilling.
Daniel Elford
If you think you know director Marc Evans because you saw "Snow Cake", exercise some caution before getting into "Trauma". If you saw "My Little Eye", however, you are safe, though due to be a little underwhelmed, I must say. This may be partly due to the fact that it is not written by the same person, does not have the same overwhelming grip on the audience as "My Little Eye" had, and does not have the same clarity (though it is easily argued this is intentional), but it would be unfair to say it is not a convincing piece of writing, as apparently confirmed by a professional psychiatrist, and not a film worth giving some attention."Trauma" is about Ben, a man who suffers a car accident with his wife Elisa, and upon emerging from his coma, discovers she is dead. His accident coincides with the death of the famous singer Lauren Parris, who we discover was connected to Elisa. Ben moves back to his apartment, is befriended by a neighbour named Charlotte, and proceeds to try to get on with his life with the aid of sessions with a psychiatrist. Unfortunately he is haunted by visions and a growing feeling that there is something wrong, that he is missing something, a huge piece of a puzzle he seems to be part of.This is a film that suffers from various problems: a lower quality sound mix that one might expect, a rather unremarkable turn from Mena Suvari (American Beauty) as Charlotte, Naomie Harris and Brenda Fricker being given fairly little to do, and a sense that Richard Smith, the writer, was so intent on telling a strange story, he perhaps lost his way with some of the finer details. All that said, Marc Evans brings it in at 90 minutes, and manages to create a tense, exciting experience, if not a wholly satisfying one. It seems to be an issue for a lot of people that there are more questions than answers, and that the film is unnecessarily confusing. The thing is, though I do agree it is flawed and certainly not technically on the level of Evans's previous work, I don't think the direction is as unruly and ill-disciplined as these people believe."Trauma" is not supposed to be a story with a beginning, middle, and an end where you get all the answers; it is not a story where everything is crystal clear, which once finished you can then forget about. To me, it became clear that it was Evans' intention to tell a very subjective story, through the eyes of our protagonist. The hook of it is exactly that question of doubt about Ben, and the questions you have to ask, some of them questions that even he has himself: Is he a victim of some game, is he really missing a bigger picture, is he paranoid, is he losing his mind through grief, is he schizophrenic? Evans's use of tone, editing, and pacing, and his ability to blur the line between reality and delusion really do put you in the piece with Ben. You are not supposed to go away fully understanding it all, but rather having experienced the character's fears and possible delusion for yourself, having been dragged through the film, regularly as confused as Ben is. In this regard I would draw a comparison to David Cronenberg's "Spider", though this does play out as a thriller rather than a drama.Whether this sounds like your sort of thing or not, there is one reason above all else to watch "Trauma", and that is Colin Firth. He said himself the film jumped out immediately; amidst the numerous proposals landing on his mat to play the next romantic lead, it is easy to see how. Firth has finally got recognition for his role in "The King's Speech" and quite rightly, but even with that he is playing "proper British", a royal, respectable and high-class. "Trauma" is your rare chance to see him showing exactly why he is a leading British actor, with a performance that goes to a shockingly dark place; it is surreal and you have to keep telling yourself it's Mr Darcy, but if anyone needs convincing that Mr Firth has range as an actor, this would most certainly be it. His performance alone makes this a worthwhile experience.
gavin6942
Awaking from a coma to discover his wife has been killed in a car accident, Ben's world may as well have come to an end...The focus of this film is Ben (Colin Firth), whose world is a bit of a shambles. He does not always know what he knows, or may see things he does not really see. Unfortunately for me, I do not feel the film made this clear enough to really get a handle on.The most disappointing thing about this film is the lack of Mena Suvari. She is on the cover, and is the reason I picked up the title. But, you know, she is in it less than a quarter of the time. That let me down. She needed more speaking parts, and not just because Firth's accent is too thick at times.
