Review: ‘Shadow Dancer’

James Marsh is best known for his documentaries, most notably Man on a Wire and Project Nim. Given the levels of anxiety created in both those titles, it’s no wonder he has created the menacing air of something about to explode in this tense drama about the Irish Troubles.

The film opens with a prologue in which Collette coerces her younger brother to run down to the shop to pick up cigarettes for their father. He’s caught in the crossfire between IRA and British soldiers and killed.

Jump forward 20 years and Collette has embraced the Republican cause. We find her about to plant a bomb in a London Underground station. But before she completes the drop, she’s snapped by an MI5 agent who offers her a Hobson’s choice: 25 years prison without seeing her son, or to become an informer.

With life at home tense because of her brothers’ dedication to the Republican cause, the decision is not one she can take lightly. It offers her a way out, but she’ll be risking her life and betraying her family. Add into the mix the political manoeuvres facing the agent which will put Collette into even more peril, and things become explosive.

This is a startling film about grief and vengeance in a family torn apart by tragedy. The actors keep everything simmering beneath the surface, the volatile nature of life within the family home conveyed through glances and gestures. As Collette, Andrea Riseborough is especially noteworthy in a role that requires her to run the gamut of emotions from fear to guilt to desperate bravery, all of which writhe through her until they become white-hot.

Just when you think the tension has become unbearable, it shatters, bringing not salvation but desolation. It is this unpredictability and danger that makes Marsh’s films so compelling, even when the surprises are unbearable to experience.

For those going in expecting an action film, this will be disappointing. It is a slow-burning experience, filled with meaningful gestures, claustrophobia and unspoken words. The tension ratchet up almost imperceptibly and it’s not until the film’s end that you’ll realize you’ve been holding your breath, waiting for a moment of catharsis that never comes.

7.5/10