TRANSSIBERIAN [R]
review by Robert Nesti
In Transsiberian, Brad Anderson’s deft thriller, an American couple discover far more than they bargain for on a trip from Beijing to Moscow. Their journey - nearly a week long - is on the Transsiberian Express, a train, which despite its exotic-sounding name, doesn’t offer Old World glamour. Instead it’s an outmoded throwback to Communist era style - crowded, dumpy and utilitarian, making it a less-than-elegant ride for the couple.
Not that they mind too much. Returning from doing missionary work in China, they are up for the adventure of traveling through Siberia in the dead of winter. Once onboard Roy (Woody Harrelson) can pursue his passion for trains and Jessie (Emily Mortimer) can pass the time taking photos of the ordinary Russians on the train, that is if they let her. They are, nonetheless, strangers in a strange land. As they drink vodka with other passengers they learn of the local customs, which include a story of corrupt officials who cut the toes of a passenger because his name is misspelled on his passport. They also learn that the train has become a haven for drug smuggling, which accounts for police and the drug-sniffing dogs that stalk the train at every stop.
The couple seems a good matched, though it becomes quickly apparent that they have problems. The good-natured Roy wants a family, but Jessie is reluctant. And Jessie has a past (sex and drugs), suggesting that Roy’s interest in her has something of a missionary zeal. All of this unfolds in the colorful, if leisurely opening section. The film doesn’t click into gear until there’s the arrival of a second couple: Carlos (Eduardo Noriega), a 30-something Spaniard with a seductive smile, and Abby (Kate Mara), his younger American companion who appears to have something to hide. Carlos immediately comes onto Jessie, and she appreciates his attention. Inevitably the two find themselves alone in a romantic situation, but what happens is unexpected. As Hitchcock did before him, Anderson (who co-wrote the script with Will Conroy) understands how to undermine audience expectations.
Which makes “Transsiberian” a tightly made thriller that keeps you guessing right through the end. Just what is in those Russian dolls that Carlos is smuggling to Moscow? And how do the events on the train tie into the murder scene that opens the film? It is in this short prelude that Grinko (Ben Kingsley), a Russian drug agent, is investigating the death of low-level operative of a drug smuggling operation. Midway through the film, when the narrative takes a sinister turn, he turns up again, becoming something of a thorn in Jessie’s side, which leads to a thrilling, if somewhat incredible climax featuring crashing trains, grisly torture, and the inevitable cache of drug money.
Anderson knows how to play the suspense card, but he also carefully builds the relationships between the characters in ways that amplify the psychological tensions. On one level the story is a standard drug-running thriller, but on a deeper one, it is a character study of a woman coming to terms with her life and her marriage. The shifting allegiances of the characters become a strong element of the taut story, overshadowing the more obvious plot elements.
As for the cast, Mortimer conveys Jessie’s complicated nature with unusual depth of feeling, while Harrelson shades his simplistic American rube with a surprising tenderness; and Kingsley is effectively creepy as the Russian cop nostalgic for the Communist era. Noriega rides the cusp between sexy and sleazy and Mara’s brooding expression hint at a back story not fully told. Perhaps her story ended up on the cutting room floor. Nonetheless what makes “Transsiberian” worth seeing is that there is far more here than immediately meets the eye - like Hitchcock, it leaves you questioning its twists and turns upon leaving the theater, something the standard Hollywood thriller rarely does.•••
Robert Nesti is the national arts editor for EDGE.
