Movie Date: The Girl On The Train (M18)
Guys and girls will be equally drawn to the story and the sensuality.
STARRING: Emily Blunt, Haley Bennett, Justin Theroux, Rebecca Ferguson, Luke Evans, Laura Prepon
DIRECTOR: Tate Taylor
THE SKINNY: Based on the best-selling novel by Paula Hawkins. Every day, divorcee Rachel (Blunt) takes the train to New York and stares wistfully at her old house, occupied by her ex-husband Tom (Theroux) and his new wife Anna (Ferguson). She begins to observe the couple living a few houses away from them, Scott (Evans) and Megan Hipwell (Bennett), who appear to have the perfect life. But when Rachel sees something shocking at the Hipwell house one day, she is drawn into a mystery entangling all their lives.
MARS by JASON JOHNSON
I love art by women - it tends to be juicier emotionally and aesthetically.
The Girl On The Train is based on a novel written by a woman, and it tells the story of three fascinating women, played by three extraordinary actresses.
The cinematographer, Charlotte Bruus Christensen, is a woman.
The director isn't a woman, but he is openly gay, and perhaps has a better instinct for the subject matter than your average straight dude. I shudder to think what a guy like Michael Bay would have done with the picture.
The flick is sad and beautiful in a way that is rare now. So often when film-makers go dark, work in a minor key, they bring out the ugly stick.
Films with this sort of subject matter are often off-putting.
The Girl On The Train is like a Lana Del Rey song - luscious and luxurious but cuts with pain and regret.
There's just the merest suggestion of Gothicism around the edges.
The director hints here and there that he's fully capably of going full bonkers, but he restrains himself.
In terms of its narrative, this flick is expertly crafted to keep you hanging.
You're never quite sure what is going on, but you're intrigued, and when the answers come, it hits like a bolt of lightning.
This is a magnificent film - probably the best I've seen all year.
Verdict: 5/5
VENUS by LISA TWANG
The Girl On The Train is this year's Gone Girl.
It's whip-smart, gorgeously shot, and the mystery twists and turns magnificently.
The movie did draw flak from book fans who thought Blunt was too hot to play Rachel, who is dumpy and frumpy in the original novel. But Blunt is so stunning here, I fully expect book fans to fall in love with her. I know I did.
I could relate to every one of the female characters, from the depressed Rachel to the free-spirited Megan to the yummy mummy Anna. There is something in their lives I think every woman can understand - pain, loss, longing, love.
So many movies reduce women to supporting characters or stereotypes: The Wife, The Mother.
Here, the women rule. They drive the plot and demand to be seen and understood in all their complexity.
As a new mum myself, I saw the film as being about babies and the women who have them, can't have them, and can't wait to get away from them.
Don't let that deter you, though, because there is plenty to enjoy about The Girl On The Train even if you don't give two hoots about kids.
Evans and Theroux are deliciously sexy, and we can understand if the women flock to them like tai tais to a sale.
To me, this radically feminist thriller is nothing short of a masterpiece.
Verdict: 5/5
THE CONSENSUS: Guys and girls will be equally drawn to the story and the sensuality.
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