Shadow Dancer

source: Shadow Dancer

This film was quite satisfying and featured some solid performances, from the leading pair especially. It wasn't partisan as films of this genre can be, but as others have said, the limitations of budget and time meant that many avenues were not explored to a conclusion. The format and story would lend themselves to a 3 part TV movie quite well, as the characters had depth and I felt an affinity with all parties. I'm glad, though, that Hollywood and big budgets/names didn't run this, as the sheer mundane elements of this life were played out more than the glamorous action set pieces. It kept moving quite well, and if anything the scenes rattled past quicker than I'd have liked, but it was a good story, well told, a tense finale and nicely put together. Very watchable.

Clive Owen is an MI5 stooge who instantly turns a Belfast bomb-dropper-offer woman into an informer, in spite of saying, 'This is going to take some time'. And yes, we get it: Belfast in the troubles (which aren't over btw) is as bleak as it gets. Those IRA guys just want everyone to be as miserable as they are, it seems. Now, introduce hundreds of indistinguishable miserable characters without names or any particular reason to exist other than it's a 'political' film, yeah? A few vignettes of IRA funerals and suchlike, just to lighten the mood. Forget to show the heroine for half an hour, and focus on Clive Owen's double chin. Fast forward ninety minutes. Still awake? Suddenly, Clive and his informer kiss. Fast forward thirty more minutes. then she arranges for his car to be booby trapped even though he offered to elope with her, I think. Because her mother's an informer too, and she has to die. You see, those IRA types just can't be anything but miserable. Who wrote this tripe? Is that the Tom Bradby who was ITV's political editor? Stick to news, Tom. If it wasn't you, sorry.

It is easy to forget that you are watching a film and become completely absorbed. In my opinion that only happens with excellent films. It seemed all too real. Its low key atmosphere, few feel good moments and the lack of (unnecessary) block-busting special effects probably explains why the audience was so sparse, but its plot and its re-creation of 1990s Belfast had me hooked. The character of Collette as portrayed by Andrea Risborough was wonderfully inscrutable. I was trying to remember what I had seen her in, and I was astonished that she had also played Margaret Thatcher in "The Long Walk to Finchley". What that really the same actress? Well, yes it was, and shows she is one of the best in the business. My only minor concern was the brief romance. Possibly an extra conventional courtship scene was needed. Did Mac really have enough motivation to conceive the maverick idea of running off with her? Did Collette kiss him just to get greater protection, or were there true feelings which she overcame for the final denouement? This aspect was sketchy, but, I suppose, intriguing. I concluded that someone with the commitment to plant a bomb, wouldn't change her principles just because she had been threatened with jail.

With films like In The Name of the Father, Michael Collins, and Hunger, you really have to have a great film about the IRA to get attention. This film not only succeeds as a film that belongs with the others mentioned, but it is really an impressive film. The lighting, scenery, costumes and photography, and background music all contribute to the film in a way that one expects of a great film about Britain in the 90s. Andrea Riseborough (Margaret Thatcher: The Long Walk to Finchley), Domhnall Gleeson (Anna Karenina), David Wilmot (Intermission), and Brid Brennan (Dancing at Lughnasa) gave notable performances allowing us to really feel the personal dilemmas and betrayal they experienced. Good espionage films tend to keep my interest, and this was edge-of-the- seat action.

"Shadow Dancer" from 2012 stars Andrea Riseborough, Clive Owen, and Gillian Anderson. I'm not sure what the situation with this movie was because it only made $400,000. The movie takes place in Belfast, and in the first scene, a young girl, Collette, is told by her father to buy him some cigarettes. She doesn't want to go, so instead, she sends her little brother Sean. The action then shifts to 1993, and we see the adult Collette (Riseborough) deliberately leaving her purse in the London tube; as she escapes from the tube, she is arrested. An MI-5 agent, Mac (Owen) offers her a deal -- no prison time if she will become an informant and at the end of her time working for him, a new identity. Because she has a young son, she agrees. Mac ultimately learns that his superior (Anderson) is using Collette as a red herring to protect her own mole inside the Irish organization. Mac tries to find out who the mole is and remove Collette from a dangerous situation. This movie is sparse on dialogue and, frankly, action, particularly at the beginning as we see Collette on what seems to be an endless train ride and finally dropping her purse. After that, things pick up. The cinematography is dreary, with Ireland looking like it's one step up from a trailer park in most scenes. Andrea Riseborough, who can be beautiful and glamorous, is photographed harshly here, and she's excellent as a young woman caught in the nightmare of having to betray her brothers and answer to their trigger-happy leader Kevin (David Wilmot) and to Mac. She is natural and realistic in underplaying the role of a young Irish girl under incredible tension. Owen is good as the protective Mac, tough and persuasive. The big problem is the lack of family connection, that is, Collette's relationship with her worried mother and her brothers, who are entrenched in a violent world. Shadow Dancer concentrates on the relationship between Mac and Collette, where showing more within the family would have brought us into the film more deeply. We're led to believe certain things in "Shadow Dancer," and it's not until the end of the movie that we realize what a good script it was, and how well it is directed by James Marsh. A sober movie showing the impact of violence and stress on one family.

MI5 Agent Mac (Clive Owen) gives Collette (Andrea Riseborough) a choice: go to prison and lose her son for planting a bomb on English soil or become his informer to take down members of the IRA. She accepts to protect her son, but Mac soon discovers his superior, Kate Fletcher (Gillian Anderson), is also using Collette to protect "her" informer within the IRA. Mac needs to find the identity of that informer. I like Clive Owen movies, but this one was not ready to come to the gate. When the movie ends there are questions that should have been answered within. Didn't happen. We didn't get an inkling that there was a love relationship between Mac and Collette, yet she spontaneously kisses him at one point and nothing happens thereafter. Why did she do that? How did the IRA know that Kate's informer was the mole who they killed? We had no clue to that. Were some scenes cut that we never saw? The surprise ending regarding Mac made absolutely no sense. Again, perhaps some scenes were cut? Huh? I believe directors have a responsibility to allow the audience to hear what is being said. When English and Irish accents are involved the men have a great tendency to talk into their chests, talk so fast the road-runner couldn't keep up, whisper in conspiratorial tones that rewinding the DVD many times just exercises the wrist. This doesn't happen with the women actors. We can hear them fine. The movie centered too much on Collette and that led me to believe that Mac was second fiddle in here. He had no control over anything. And, the contentious relationship with Kate, his boss, didn't help matters. James Bond wouldn't allow things to get this out of control (you really wanted Clive Owen to be the next James Bond, didn't you?) When our hero (Mac) loses control, we don't know what to expect anymore. See? This movie should have been wrapped in suspense and tension but, they were not in evidence. The best part of the movie was the first 20-minutes. After that it all ran downhill with Collette's side of things. Yes, Andrea Riseborough, as Collette, performed well, but we went to see a Clive Owen movie. Oh, he also performed well, as usual, but his Mac lost control. I like going to Clive Owen movies. I hope the next one is better. (3/10) Violence: Yes. Sex: No. Nudity: No. Torture: Yes. Language: Yes, mostly in the beginning.

How does it feel when you need to count every breath? That each one of them you owed to someone else? Wishing you were born somewhere else sometime different? That each action of yours this way or that, Could mean to someone who is your brother, A violent betrayal, yours or his last breath? How does it feel when you need to trust? Your enemy a complete stranger,over everything you believe? To agree to betray your family, to protect them? To be dead inside and carry on for your son? To betray your enemy who was a stranger, but not anymore, To take his life, when he put everything on line for your trust. How does it feel to dance in the shadows? After losing all your smiles to the dead silence of war?

what an extraordinary story told in a narrative style which keeps you guessing all the way to the final shot. all the performances were terrific, subtle as the story unfolds. i am a big history buff, so that aspect of this movie was a real treat for me personally. as i say, the only thing new is the history we do not know. i would highly recommend this movie to any thoughtful viewer who wants to be informed and entertained. it was truly a pleasure to have happened on this while going through the stacks at my library in the DVD section. bravo to the actors, author and screenplay writer and a wonderful piece of directing including style and pacing. a job well done, indeed!!!!!!

I thought this was an excellent movie. It created tension in a simple way, it has good performances that make you see why the characters behave as they do, it doesn't spoon-feed you but it does expect you to pay attention. It takes some big political issues (which i can remember living through) and personalises them in a very gripping and emotional story line. At the end, the audience, all 6 of us, were just sat in our seats stunned. As someone said above, this is a film that should be seen and for some reason doesn't seem to be at the moment. Hopefully, it's a slow burner, cos I loved it.