Transsiberian (2008)

When we are young, one of the earliest pieces of advice we’re most often given is, “don’t talk to strangers.” Of course, an optimistic response could be that everyone is a stranger until they become your friend but obviously this would most likely be offered by folks who haven’t spent a whole lot of time in the company of Alfred Hitchcock movies. No, as those of us —such as Transsiberian director and master-of-suspense fan Brad Anderson would tell you — beware the lure of a beguiling stranger whose smile and ease seems a bit too rehearsed, especially when you’re traveling abroad.
Whether it’s when we’re away at college and trying to avoid the dreaded freshman ten or traveling on our own, the tendency is to gravitate towards others to feel less alone. Of course, when doing so, we seldom realize that we’re not being quite as choosy as we may be in familiar surroundings, instead becoming fast acquaintances with others that we may have avoided in "real life."
This is especially the case for the cheerfully and aggressively friendly American hardware-store owner and train-enthusiast Roy, played by Woody Harrelson in Anderson’s brilliant new film. Returning from a church mission trip from Beijing, China to Moscow by way of the Trans-Siberian Express train, Roy and his quieter, more streetwise photographer wife Jessie (Emily Mortimer) find themselves startled into the forced, awkward intimacy of sharing a jam-packed compartment with two total strangers.

The handsome Latin American Carolos (Eduardo Noriega) and his much younger girlfriend Abby (Kate Mara) seem on surface level to be the polar opposite of our Iowan, straight-laced leads until secrets come tumbling out, revealing that Jessie has quite a checkered past. Yet as she warns her husband in a brilliant Tennessee Williams quote, if “you kill off all my demons, Roy... my angels might die too,” and the group becomes an unlikely foursome in as Roy describes “the wild, wild east.”

However, they’re not quite sure just how wild it is until the film takes its first of several unexpected turns right around the thirty-minute mark and while the film’s trailer and numerous spoiler-filled reviews (avoid Roger Ebert’s and Stephen Holden’s until after you finish the film) have you expecting things will turn out one way, Anderson fools you again and again. Setting itself up to be a film about two Americans who mistakenly become the tourists who knew too much, to misquote a Hitchcock title, in trusting the wrong people, soon a major character is killed off in a brilliantly vicious and surprising twist of fate, another goes missing, and we’re reacquainted midway through with the man whom we see in the film’s beginning. Sir Ben Kingsley—that unrivaled master of accents and intimidation-- shows up for a mysterious turn as a Russian inspector whose alliances and true character we’re unable to predict until the film careens towards a suspenseful conclusion.

Director Brad Anderson, who co-wrote the film with Will Conroy, reveals all of the Hitchcock cards in his hand from the start — especially as he sets the unbelievably tense character-driven mystery in a film that demands they share such close proximity aboard a train. Yet I defy anyone to guess where the ultimate journey will lead them both figuratively and literally. While one can no doubt accuse me of being awfully vague, you’ll definitely thank me after viewing the film as the less one knows about its plot, the better.

Transsiberian arrives on time at your local DVD and Blu-ray retailer on November 4 from First Look Studios. While the only complaint would be that in the Russian dialogue-based scenes, the yellow subtitles are far too small, otherwise the stellar picture quality and 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround Sound was top-notch on the DVD. Featuring previews but zero extra features save for Spanish subtitles and English ones for the deaf or hearing-impaired, the film itself is the main draw.

While mood-wise it's a far cry from my favorite Anderson film—the underrated critically lauded science fiction tinged romantic comedy Happy Accidents starring Marisa Tomei and Vincent D’Onofrio—Transsiberian is much more accessible than his unflinchingly dark Christian Bale vehicle The Machinist. And moreover, Transsiberian is Anderson's best crafted work so far and one that no doubt you’ll find yourself wanting to watch more than once, if only to try and discover what clue you missed the first time around.

Definitely a train worth catching and one that—similar to Roy and Jessie—you’ll want to stay pretty much in the dark until after you take it in but it’s one of 2008’s biggest sleepers and one you’ll instantly want to recommend to others. However, it may be best if you avoid approaching strangers in the process, especially ones with way too many stamps in their passport and strange advice on not standing out in customs.

Luckily, Anderson failed to listen to his own advice—making a film that intellectually stands out head and shoulders above a large percentage of Hollywood factory-made thrillers by serving up a work so deliciously gripping and sinister that even Hitchcock would probably muster up the faintest trace of that subtle smile in appreciation.

Happy Accidents

Director: Brad Anderson

For years I rejected the notion that I had a romantic type. In fact, it’s a theory I’ve always resisted since no two individuals are alike but after others have pointed out the recurring pattern to be found in men whom I find attractive (tall, typically dark haired, kind, creative, smart, funny, slightly older), there’s no use denying it any longer.

I guess as they say, not only am I one of many who have a type but-- after more than a decade on the dating scene-- I have just as many turn-offs as I do things that cause my head to turn. Whether it’s staying away from gun show enthusiasts, conservative Republicans, smokers, men who loathe foreign film, the devoutly religious, guys without a library card or voter registration, or those who have never been to a museum on an occasion other than a field trip, we all have our deal-breakers with some faux pas (of course!) being more serious than others.

Of course, dating is far more difficult when one is a recovering codependent and such is the case for Ruby Weaver (Marisa Tomei) in writer/director Brad Anderson’s high energy, romantic, fantastical mystery Happy Accidents. Not only has Ruby had her fill of men who were less than her ideal such as the bad actor, the artist who felt she was leaving his work more than him, the fetishist, and addicts and her friend had a scare dating a secretive Jew for Jesus, but as a notorious “fixer,” Ruby’s made it a habit of falling for the wrong men whom she feels she can mold into the best versions of themselves whether they’re interested in changing or not.

While I can assure you that as tempting as it is to try and change men-- even slightly from discouraging an overreliance on their typical wardrobe staples of interchangeable baseball hats-- the only way someone is going to change is on their own, so one needs to make peace with those damn hats and be thankful that (in comparison to the freaks Ruby has met) that’s the least of our worries.

With a therapist to answer to and still so determined to be everyone’s loyal girl Friday so much that she gets fired for being overly helpful and flirtatious as a directory assistance operator, Ruby tries to steer clear of relationships but as we all know, that’s precisely when they spring up like a flower or sometimes a weed in a garden we weren’t looking for.

When Ruby first meets the friendly, intelligent, earnest yet slightly old-fashioned and awkward Sam Deed (Vincent D’Onofrio) who rambles on addictively with theories of time, there seems to be an instant pull but she resigns herself to the fact that Sam is probably one of those men best fantasizing about rather than dating. Of course, this is before he shows up in her life again and after a literal whirlwind courtship complete with fast motion cinematography and quick cuts, we catch up with the blissfully happy couple one week into their relationship which finds them impulsively cohabitating.

However, once they’re sharing the same space, they learn they don’t have room for excess baggage but instead of the usual “getting to know you” discoveries, Ruby is thunderstruck by a revelation offered from the odd, easily confused Sam that he is from the year 2470. With a ridiculous yarn involving time-travel, false arrest, and freedom fighting, in which Sam explains his flight from the “Atlantic coast of Iowa” to come to the year 1999 and meet up with his contact Chrystie Delancey, Ruby grows far more concerned with his mental health, until his story begins to not only evolve as their relationship continues but starts to involve her own future story as well.

Ingenious, clever and unabashedly romantic with superb chemistry between the two leads and great supporting turns by Nadia Dajani and Sean Gullette (Pi), Happy Accidents which was released the same year as the forgettable by-the-numbers time travel love story Kate and Leopold was unfortunately overlooked by mainstream audiences before it was relegated to occasional showings on IFC and even fewer copies placed in video stores across the country.

Fascinating and filled with great screwball dialogue that’s at once so highly intelligent and awe-inspiringly creative it wouldn’t have been out of place in a classic Preston Sturges film, making Tomei’s earthy, caring Ruby seem like a modern take on a role that would’ve been played back in the 1930s and 40s by Claudette Colbert.

Additionally, it’s the type of film that plays even better on repeat viewings when the entire complicated plot can best be appreciated with all of its layers and thankfully without the fierce apprehension one experiences initially. Perhaps and most impressively, the talented work by Brad Anderson (Next Stop Wonderland, The Machinist) can just as easily be called a science fiction or fantasy work as it can a romantic comedy yet it doesn’t fall exclusively into one set genre, dazzling us by breaking both of the molds and constantly switching styles throughout so that it’s as irresistible as a breathtaking date with a man we’ve just realized, much like Ruby, is exactly our type.

In fact, Happy Accidents is not only highly recommended but it’s one of my favorite romantic indie films of the last decade and shouldn’t fail to strike a chord with those who enjoyed Amelie.

Buy It