Oscar-winning director James Marsh's latest picture is a harrowing tale of lost love, misjudged loyalty and brutal suffering. From the opening scene, it becomes clear to us that Marsh's thriller is a bleak one, its characters shot in tones of grey and light blue to portray that no one in this story has escaped hardship. The general course of the narrative is wildly unpredictable; it includes a hard hitting opening scene and a shocking denouement.

When IRA member Colette McVeigh (Andrea Riseborough) is kidnapped by MI5, she is coerced into being an informant by one of its agents, Mac (Clive Owen). What follows is a series of ruthless IRA attacks and a segue into a rather brief but unexpected love story. Colette is trapped in between these two organisations, forced to choose between the country that may have killed her little brother and the Irish terrorist organisation who already suspect her of being a spy for the British. 

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Andrea Riseborough is perfectly made up as Colette: her pale, weary, teary face indicating she is unsure of whose side to pick. Riseborough plays her part with gripping conviction, progressively causing us to lose sympathy for her character and the sticky situation she is in. A difficult role to take on, she pulls it off with quiet subtlety. 

 

Rob Hardy's cinematography is particularly potent: the hand-held urgency of the camera creating anticipation, even in the quietest moments of the picture. The empowering long takes draw the audience into the action, continually surprising them with each new plot turn.

 

 

When Colette and her IRA counterparts assassinate an important figure outside his house, the unexpected shooting of one of the assassins she has given away is heightened by the tension the long take creates. This scene continues all the way into the house of the shot man: Colette marches in, bumps into the deceased man's wife and their baby, and demands the back door key, amidst the baby's crying. It is bizarrely reminiscent of an earlier Clive Owen film, Children of Men, during which much of the action is conveyed by means of heart-racing long takes.

 

Great contemporary British films are few and far between: I half expected Shadow Dancer to be as mediocre as an overrated Tom Hooper flick. Boy, was I wrong. Don't miss out: this is one thriller that'll electrify you from start to finish.

 

 

 

Stars -  ★ ★ ★ ★

 

Reviewed by Rehan Mudannayake