In many ways Transsiberian is Brad Andersons quiet little break into the mainstream. Too bad not many people noticed. Anyone wondering if this is just another forgettable suspense thriller I would suggest a peak back at both The Machinist and Session 9. This is a movie with scads to say and was easily one of the better more complex thrillers out this year and as different as it is it clearly springs from the same fertile morally vested imagination. Like all of Andersons films the basic building block of the story lies in the unfolding of secrets and the tragedies that are rooted in them. Supporting Andersons great screenplay are Woody Harrelson and Emily Mortimer as a couple returning home from a short term mission who find themselves befriended by a dubious young couple and pursued by Ben Kingsley who may or may not be a Russian Police Officer. The only secret left at the end of this DVD is why no extras were included.
More from Transsiberian:
- Reviews: TRANSSIBERIAN Review
I really wanted to see this movie in theatres but I never had the opportunity as it didn't come out in my area. Thanks for the DVD info!
I couldn't disagree more re: this being Anderson's "quiet little break into the mainstream." He's still treading that weird limbo line of indie/mainstream filmmaking that he was when he made HAPPY ACCIDENTS and THE MACHINIST. I mean, TRANSSIBERIAN, which I reviewed when it came out this year at the New York Press, was showing at the Village East and Lincoln Plaza in NYC and in case you're not familiar with NY, as I so often take for granted as a lifelong resident, Village East is a weird grab bag of mainstream and lil films and Lincoln Plaza is the quintessential upscale arthouse theater.
So yeah, TRANSSIBERIAN didn't really break new territory for Anderson but it /may/ have paved the way for future releases of his to show up in more than two theaters in Manhattan next time.
Oh and if I'm wrong re: it only being at those two, somebody please, oh please, correct me as I don't want to shoot my mouth off if I'm in fact wrong.
Actually your point is well made. Transsiberian certainly didn't recieve anything approaching mainstream ad revnue or promotion. I was using mainstream in the sense that of all Andersons film,s Transsiberian is the one most accessible in terms of the marketplace. I firmly believe if a studio had gotten behind this film and marketed it at the right time they could have done solid box office on it. In Chicago I believe this film recieved a eelease only in the same type of theaters you describe.
I loved this film.
Are you kidding me? This was a TERRIFIC movie! I held my breath for the last half of the movie! The pacing, the performance of Emily Mortimer, wow! Two thumbs up, WAY, WAY up! And I was reading in boxofficemojo.com that this film only did $5,550,000 worldwide!! Huh? It's widest release was only 154 theaters? SOMEbody was asleep at the wheel. How is it a film like this gets in only 154 theaters? Ben Kingsley? Woody Harrelson? Emily Mortimer? What am I missing!? Canfield is right; this film should be released and PUSHED! It's hidden away in Blockbuster, lower shelf, very inconspicuous. This is massive studio incompetence at it's height.