Simon (James McAvoy) works at the equivalent of Sotheby's or Christie's. One of those select auction houses where the idol rich play one-up with each other using the art treasures of the West. One fine day the auction house comes under siege just as "Witches in the Air" by Goya is about to hit the block. A group of men invade wielding a multitude of weapons and our man Simon's defensive training kicks in. He snatches the painting off the easel and spirits it away. Just as he's about to leave the building with it the ringleader of the invaders, Franck, (Vincent Cassel) stops him and demands the painting. It's pretty obvious there's some kind of relationship between the two even though Simon tases him. Franck retaliates with a vicious blow to the head that knocks Simon unconscious and then makes his escape, Goya in tow. A short time later he's in his lair with the rest of the crew. They all gather round for the big unveiling of this $40 million dollar painting but there's a problem. There's no painting in the frame.
From here the film morphs from a heist film to a tense psychological thriller with all eyes on Simon. You see, though he was hailed as a kind of hero for his apparent effort to thwart the robbers, it turns out he was in on the heist. However, for some unknown reason he chose at the last minute to cut the painting from it's frame and stash it away. But when Franck wacked him over the head poor Simon's brain went all mushy and he can't remember why he removed the painting from the frame or where he stashed it.
Franck, in his desperation, turns to a hypnotist to try and jog Simon's memory. The hypnotist, Elizabeth (Rosario Dawson), doesn't know what to make of her charge at first but over time that will change. Dawson herself rises to the challenge the part lays at her feet and is never short of brilliant, deftly navigating the space between and around the two male leads. For his part Vincent Cassel does an equally wonderful job playing a mobster who's in over his head in a game whose rules he doesn't understand. By turns menacing, patient, out of control and large-and-in-charge you can see his Frank continually trying to figure things out in order to find some way to check his opponents.
James McAvoy also has a part he can sink his teeth into with Simon. His character arc is disturbing and complex and MacAvoy does an admirable job inhabiting the skin of a man who may have chosen to forget what he's unwilling to face, though he's not the only one who'll be revealed to have memory issues.
It's pretty much impossible to discuss the narrative any further without talking spoilers and this is not the kind of film I want to be responsible for spoiling. It's a smart, well made, adult film full of twists and turns. It raises more than a few unnerving ethical and moral (not to mention narrative) questions and if the end doesn't leave you spinning then, well, you haven't been paying attention.
Danny Boyle handles the intricate narrative with the sure hand of the born story teller. The movie could have easily spiraled off into farce or parody or become preposterous or pretentious, but Boyle (with the help of the fantastic work of his leads) keeps it real-world and exhilarating, fresh and engaging and in the process shoots to the top of my early list of 2013's best directors.
Verdict: ★★★★☆
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