I am all for the weird and different, I am all for a little science fiction or a blur of reality or even a quizzical ending...take the brilliant film The Jacket or The Machinist to name a few recent ones. Trauma starts off interestingly enough with that sort of...is this real or not type story. Unfortunately by the end of it you don't care and you still have no idea and worse yet, you're massively confused by everything. That's not a good way to end the story.
Trauma is about a man named Ben who seems to be just awakening from a coma after a car accident where "apparently" his wife was killed. Upon awakening the news of the day is the murder of pop superstar Lauren Parris, whose body was found in a canal after being missing for two days. Ben feels his grief is being overshadowed by the death of this pop star. He is devastated and torn up and lonely. As the film progresses we are gradually introduced to a myriad of facts that never once add up...his wife is alive or dead, people exist or don't, he's a killer or not...none of this is ever answered and we are never given the opportunity to figure it out.
Colin Firth (who I think is limited in his acting ability as it is) really gives this his all. He does turn in a very sad performance at first of a man grieving for his lost love. Unfortunately the script blows all that to hell by mucking everything up and making everything make little to no sense. Basically this film has no point whatsoever despite trying at the beginning. Mena Suvari is just an American name to tag onto the film because her role...whether important or not....is not important enough for any one actor. The film doesn't make sense and it's just a shame because I am sure there is something redeemable there somewhere. I'm sure some fan of the film will dissect it and come out with some sort of theory and I'm all for that but I won't be the one for sure. Skip this one, and check out The Jacket. 4/10
Trauma is about a man named Ben who seems to be just awakening from a coma after a car accident where "apparently" his wife was killed. Upon awakening the news of the day is the murder of pop superstar Lauren Parris, whose body was found in a canal after being missing for two days. Ben feels his grief is being overshadowed by the death of this pop star. He is devastated and torn up and lonely. As the film progresses we are gradually introduced to a myriad of facts that never once add up...his wife is alive or dead, people exist or don't, he's a killer or not...none of this is ever answered and we are never given the opportunity to figure it out.
Colin Firth (who I think is limited in his acting ability as it is) really gives this his all. He does turn in a very sad performance at first of a man grieving for his lost love. Unfortunately the script blows all that to hell by mucking everything up and making everything make little to no sense. Basically this film has no point whatsoever despite trying at the beginning. Mena Suvari is just an American name to tag onto the film because her role...whether important or not....is not important enough for any one actor. The film doesn't make sense and it's just a shame because I am sure there is something redeemable there somewhere. I'm sure some fan of the film will dissect it and come out with some sort of theory and I'm all for that but I won't be the one for sure. Skip this one, and check out The Jacket. 4/10