netflix blogging: transsiberian

Brad Anderson's Transsiberian plays on several of my own personal fears, and maybe they are yours too: the inflexibility of train schedules, sharing small spaces with people i do not know, getting lost in a foreign country, being a dumb american in another country, and being outside without a hat when it's forty below. And now we will just toss in a couple more: having the dining car suddenly and without announcement removed from a train that is making its way across one of the globe's longest countries, and being the primary cause of someone else's torture.  If I were Emily Mortimer, I would also be afraid of being too skinny when it's 40 below, but there isn't much chance of that, so we'll stick with torture.

At any rate, we watched this movie Saturday night, and when we turned it on, I was comfy, warm, and worried that I would fall asleep. Not so: this movie begins as intriguing and builds and builds to the point where the prospect of sleep is threatened altogether. If you got stuff you need to get off your mind, go rent this dvd.

It came recommended from our neighbors down the street and their 20-year old daughter whom we adore, and also E!. I won't giveaway any more of the quite exciting plot, but the casting I thought was good (Ben Kingsley is of course first rate), and the cinematography was fabulous. I am a sucker, it should be noted, for trains in general, and this film's shot of the long train winding through snow are at once lovely and sinister. And also, snow is an excellent backdrop for, shall we say, fresh blood.

Comments

[Lisa Nakamura]

you know it. We saw this film in Chicago and it was not cold at the time, but it did evoke winter really really well. I thought that the cameraman was excessively unkind to Emily Mortimer, though I know that she was supposed to look frazzled and neurotic. Our favorite part of the movie (warning; slight spoiler) was when the underappreciated king of stoner-esque acting styles, Woody Harrelson, goes through this incredibly traumatic set of events and then says with typical midwestern enthusiasm to his wife, "good for you, honey!" after she does something smart. It made me appreciate living here even more. A californian would be in therapy for the rest of his life after the events of that movie.

Lisa

[Ohio Mom]

I just put this movie to the top of our Blockbuster request list. Thanks for the recommendation.