Transsiberian (2008, UK/Euro)

I’ve long been a fan of Brad Anderson (the oddity Happy Accidents is a favorite), but he more or less disappeared after The Machinist, returning this year with Transsiberian, an odd character study masquerading as a thriller. Jessie (the terrific Emily Mortimer) and Roy (Woody Harrelson) are an American couple returning from missionary work in China via the trans-Siberian railroad. Onboard, they encounter Carlos (Eduardo Noriega) and Abby (Kate Mara), a mysterious couple whose occupation is rather obvious, though never explicitly stated.

The first half of Transsiberian is the best, as Anderson and Mortimer reveal Jessie’s character, and how she plays off of the very different forces of Roy, Carlos and Abby. It’s a terrific role, and Mortimer digs in with glee, using her somewhat mousy exterior to its full advantage in hiding Jessie’s murkiness. Concurrently, Anderson suffuses the atmosphere with a terrific sense of place – there’s the natural claustrophobia that comes with shooting in such a tiny space as a train, but there are also the little details, such as the cabin music that can’t be turned off, the train’s surly tea ladies, and the strange mix of Chinese and Russian cultures and people that inhabit what feels like a moving village.

Once the movie makes the turn to full-on thriller, a bit of the momentum gets lost – it feels somewhat cheap, and not a little unsatisfying, to use these characters in such an obvious way. Anderson’s a trickster, though, and still leaves the audience wondering about a number of things after the credits roll – is Abby as innocent as Jessie thinks she is? What would Roy really do if he knew? Or does he know – did he figure it out, or did Jessie tell him after it was all over? Open endings such as this are probably one reason that Anderson has never made the transition from indies to Hollywood, a place that rarely allows its audience to form its own opinions.