Trunk: The Movie
Where: Cineplex Odeon
When: Tonight, 7:15
Rating: 3/5 stars
“M’am, stop the car . . . I need you to pull over,” says the man who claims to be a cop. Trouble is, he’s yelling this to a vengeful driver from the trunk of her car he’s held captive in for the duration of Victoria-based director Martin de Valk’s taut, occasionally nerve-rattling suspense film recalling the claustrophobic confinement of single-set thrillers such as Buried. Generating and sustaining tension in such a minimalist milieu is risky business, but de Valk, working from a screenplay by Keith Digby and Brian Paisley, pulls it off despite some initially off-putting darkness (literally) in that trunk and plotholes along a bumpy road strewn with mind games. “The truth is whatever you want it to be,” someone says during this hellish road trip, and that’s apparently the point of de Valk’s journey en route to its perplexing finale. The film is best appreciated for how the filmmakers exploit the cramped space. Notable assets include Kayvon Kelly’s courageous performance as the confined, resourceful suspect who tries to outwit the woman (voiced by Nicole Oliver) bent on avenging her daughter’s murder; Sean White’s subtly atmospheric cinematography; and the well-chosen music and remarkable sound design, including time-released quietude, that enhances the eeriness and slow-burn tension.
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