Berlinale Diary 4: Transsiberian (Or: "Do you know who I am?!?")

This year's European Film Market featured over 700 titles, with an average of 150 films screened each day of the festival. As a result, it wasn't uncommon to find audience sizes in the single digits, often dwindling down to one or two by the film's end. However, each year there are a few titles that draw buyers in like moths to a flame. Back in 2005 a riot almost broke out at the lone market screening of Thomas Vinterberg's Dear Wendy, which at that time was a hot commodity. Kind of hard to imagine, but true. Though it was part of this year's Panorama section, Brad (The Machinist) Anderson's Transsiberian had an early market screening a few days before its premiere. Having just walked out of a terrible Korean film, I decided to wait the twenty minutes, having read a few good things about it from Sundance. It wasn't long before the (maybe) 150-seat theater was filled to capacity, with at least a hundred additional angry buyers vying to get in. As the din from those denied entrance began to rise, I heard a deep, booming, gravelly voice utter a line I never imagined I'd actually hear used unironically – "Do you know who I am?!?" I half-expected the self-proclaimed VIP to be ushered in to the theater, but apart from a brief moment of silence, nothing happened. I'd give my eye teeth to learn who it was that had the moxie to issue forth those words. I sincerely hope the mysterious buyer managed to catch Transsiberian, for though it's not the type of film one expects to find at the Berlinale, it is a brilliant genre exercise in white-knuckle tension and suspense that avoids the grand third-act set piece that has become practically obligatory these days. Anderson's film is one of those pan-European productions shot in exotic locales that is a throwback to such 70s suspense films as The Cassandra Crossing or Avalanche Express, while at the same time functioning as a gripping relationship drama cum morality tale. Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer play Roy and Jessie, a midwestern American couple who are performing volunteer work in Beijing with their fellow Christian missionaries. Rather than fly home with the rest of the group, they decide to ride the rails on a seven day journey to Moscow. Roy, a train enthusiast (and genuine milquetoast) is too caught up in is hobby to notice the strange behavior of cabin mates Carlos and Abby (Eduardo Noriega and Kate Mara). Toss in a corrupt police inspector (Ben Kingsly) and add sexual tension, drugs, smuggling and a bit of torture, and you've got yourself a thriller of nearly Hitchcockian proportions. Anderson and Will Conroy's screenplay takes its time to slowly unravel the multiple layers of deception and intrigue, which is just as much about Roy and Jessie's marriage (and their past) as it is about the dangers they face while traveling across Russia. It isn't often that we find such richly developed characters in a thriller, and Anderson really shows his strength as a creator of tension, be it sexual or otherwise. There's a wonderful sense of place in the film, which subtly draws attention to details of the various villages they stop in while at the same time capturing the frustrations and limitations of being an outsider, yet Anderson does so without the self-congratulatory air of, say, The Darjeeling Limited. Though not a masterpiece by any means, Transsiberian is still a rare thing – a sharply written, emotional, intelligent thriller that is closer to Hitchcock than anything I've come across in ages. For the life of me I can't understand why this doesn't have US distribution. Maybe they should have let that guy in.

Comments

[colinr]

That reminds me of the time a very horrible lady I used to work with told me with great seriousness that she could "snap you like a twig". I guess she was trying to exert her authority - unfortunately I think I only made things worse by bursting out laughing!

Transsiberian sounds very interesting. Anderson seems strangely little known - surprising since his last couple of films have been very good (though maybe The Machinist got lost among all the other 'big final twist' films around that time?)