Trance isn't the first Danny Boyle movie to start with a Scots accent-narration inviting us along on what turns out to be one wild ride. But this time we're in London, not the Edinburgh of Trainspotting.
And though James McAvoy's Simon, a guy who works at an high-end art auction house, has his own bad habits, he's a much different creature from Renton and the rest of the heroin gang Boyle brought to such vivid life from Irvine Welsh's first novel.
That was also the second screenplay writer John Hodge did for Boyle after their joint debut feature Shallow Grave. Trance is their first dual effort since their adaptation of Alex Garland's The Beach in 2000. Despite The Beach's tepid reception, Garland then became Boyle's script man of choice on smart zombie flick 28 Days Later and mindbending space flight sci-fi, Sunshine. Then Boyle genre-hopped again into Bollywood on Slumdog Millionaire and survival thriller 127 Hours. Oh, and he put on a certain live extravaganza to christen a London sporting event last year.
All of which is to say that though Trance might have an accent in common with Trainspotting, it doesn't have much to do with any of Boyle's other films. But none of his ever-energetic output have much to do with each other, though Shallow Grave and Millionaire both concern a valuable stash, as does Trance.
The Beach excepted, it seems the ones based on books come out better than the ones based on original screenplays, which tend to make Boyle look like he's attempting cover versions of other directors - Kubrick for Sunshine; the Coen Brothers on A Life Less Ordinary.
