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Movies & TV

Shadow Dancer

SHADOW DANCER (Mongrel, 2012) D: James Marsh, w/ Andrea Riseborough, Clive Owen. Rating: NN DVD package: NNN Rating: NN


A near-documentary realism in the acting, visuals and story gives Shadow Dancer a strong and very different sense of paranoia than the usual spy thriller.

In 1993, with the Troubles in Northern Ireland drawing to a close, young IRA member Collette (Andrea Riseborough) goes to London to plant a bomb, but she’s caught by MI5 and offered a choice: 25 years in prison and the loss of her young son, or a return to Belfast to spy for the English. Collette becomes an agent, but the local IRA cell know they have an informer, and they’re closing in.

Collette’s conflicted emotions are mirrored by those of her MI5 handler (Clive Owen), who’s willing to put her in peril but determined to keep her alive, despite his growing suspicion that she’s being used in some other plot.

The drama plays out in ordinary working-class homes and streets, amid people beaten down by chronic fear, a look perfectly captured by Riseborough and the rest of the cast.

The interviews and making-of doc provide a clear look at the path from novel to screen and the importance of director James Marsh’s documentary background.

EXTRAS Making-of doc, cast and crew interviews. English, French audio. English, Spanish subtitles.

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