TIFF 2013 Review: Prisoners (2013) - NP Approved

Cast: Hugh Jackman, Jake Gyllenhaal, Viola Davis
Director: Denis Villeneuve
Country: USA
Genre: Crime | Drama | Thriller
Official Website: Here

Editor’s Notes: The following review is part of our coverage of the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival. For more information on the festival visit http://tiff.net and follow TIFF on Twitter at @TIFF_NET.

Boasting incredible performances all around—particularly Jackman and Dano—and a tightly woven plot that deepens as the story progresses, Prisoners (2013) exceeds expectations by being one of the most exhilarating and sophisticated Hollywood releases in years. With Hugh Jackman giving an Oscar-worthy performance of a lifetime, and Paul Dano, Jake Gylenhaal, and Melissa Leo providing strong support, the ensemble cast demonstrate what it means to act with conviction. The troubling themes and plot demand a passionate command of the cinema, both by the director and the actors, or else the formal structure of the film risks reducing the strength of the plot. That said, Prisoners is one of the most powerful and captivating film of the 2000s.

Boasting incredible performances all around—particularly Jackman and Dano—and a tightly woven plot that deepens as the story progresses, Prisoners (2013) exceeds expectations by being one of the most exhilarating and sophisticated Hollywood releases in years.

While the film’s plot is not exactly original—the story of missing children and the gruelling search to find them has been done many times before—there is no other film quite like Prisoners. The moment Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman), the father of one of the two missing girls, kidnaps, imprisons, and tortures a suspect (Paul Dano)—whose involvement in the crimes I will refrain from spoiling—a thrilling and gutsy film is born. Due to Hollywood’s typically predictable plots and the relatively conventional filmmaking on display, one would not expect Prisoners to fare the striking turns it takes. As developments are made, fascinating plot points are transformed into insatiable resolutions which in turn become fascinating plot points. Intriguing aspects of the film are not kept from the viewer; instead, the film delivers answers which leads to more questions which leads to a more substantial story. As mentioned, the film is relatively conventional, especially its editing; however, the transitions are highly economical, and the conventional style suits the form of the narration. This is Hollywood continuity at its finest, purest, and most theoretically accurate form. As a result, while the film is highly approachable and accessible to its viewers, it is no less a tour de force of writing, acting, and filmmaking.

Despite the non-experimental Hollywood aesthetic, Villaneuve, with help of cinematographer  Roger Deakins, creates a unique and stirring illustration of distress and crisis which appreciably complements the subject matter.

Despite the non-experimental Hollywood aesthetic, Villaneuve, with help of cinematographer  Roger Deakins, creates a unique and stirring illustration of distress and crisis which appreciably complements the subject matter. With the grey colour palette of a cold and clandestine winter, the secrets and mysteries of snakes, missing children and a maze are kept hidden as the fog amongst the trees. Even in the end, when the film provides enough to fully comprehend the tightly-knit story, there are elisions which lend the film just enough ambiguity to keep one ensnared and give the film a lasting presence. Though Keller’s fate remains a mystery, his own dereliction and subsequent imprisonment—coupled with his presumed lack of knowledge of the fate of his daughter—give the viewer a sense of incompletion or, rather, perpetuation. As strong a character study as it is a chronicle, the humanist qualities of the film speak to a universal circumstance. The elicited emotions of fear, desperation, and distress are recognized as unavoidable consequences of living. As such, the themes of Villeneuve’s record go far beyond the scope of the missing children story.

Due to the sparse musical score and nearly constant use of sound effects, Prisoners forges a cataclysm of events rather than a meandering sense of stability. The instability of the plot and characters is further conveyed through the formal design and mise-en-scene. The breakage of a sink, the bloody face of an innocent man, the strangulation of a dog, the sudden figure movement of an old woman raising a gun, the word maze tattooed across the backs of fingers (clearly a nod  from Villaneuve to see who in the audience is paying attention), the suicide of a disturbed copycat, and a race to the hospital during a freak storm are just a few of the impressive visual moments of a film that refuses to hide its stark authenticity. In the end, a genuine and haunting portrayal of the horrifying incidents leave the viewer in awe and incredulity of an unpredictable sequence of events.

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Kamran Ahmed

Sr. Staff Film Critic. Visit my personal blog at Aesthetics of The Mind

Kamran's areas of interest include formalism, realism & reality, affect, and notions of the aesthetic. With experiences as a TA, an event panelist, a presenter at conferences from UofT to Harvard, and a writer of a self-authored film blog, Kamran would like to share with others his profound interest in the profilmic in the hopes of inspiring, in them, a similar love for film.

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