Transsiberian (Woody Harrelson, Emily Mortimer, Ben Kingsley, Kate Mara, Eduardo Noriega) – A couple, having finished their missionary work helping children in China, decide to take the Siberian Express from Beijing to Moscow rather than head directly back to the States. That’s the premise behind this first-class travelogue/thriller. Perpetually optimistic Roy, played effectively by Woody Harrelson in a manner similar to his portrayal of the husband in Indecent Proposal, and his not-quite-so-sunny wife, Jessie portrayed by the wonderful British actress Emily Mortimer (Match Point) and ironically looking like Demi Moore did in Indecent Proposal), head off the seven-day adventure. Neither is fluent in Chinese or Russian, and hardly anyone on the train speaks English. Roy is a train buff, anxious to ride the old rails and see the railway treasures along the way. Jessie, who merely went on the mission to do a good deed because she had never done anything like it, finds herself and her husband in a sleeping room with a younger couple. He’s a Spaniard named Carlos (Noriega), sexy and appealing (not unlike Juan Antonio, the Javier Bardem character in Woody Allen’s Vicky Cristina Barcelona). She is Abby (Kate Mara of We Are Marshall), an early twenty-something drifter seemingly just accompanying the irresistible man who picked her up while both supposedly were teaching English in Japan.
Director Brad Anderson (who credits are mainly on TV) does a wonderful job of creating sexual tension among the characters while hinting that something is quite amiss about the young couple. All the characters have secrets and interactions that challenge the audience to try to figure out what’s next. At the first major train stop in Russia, Roy and Carlos head off to see the old trains, and the next thing we know the train is pulling out of the station … and Roy isn’t on it. The story really begins there and methodically heads down a simultaneously romantic, violent, mysterious, thrilling, and intriguing path.
When Roy eventually catches up to the train, he comes with a new friend, a Russian narcotics agent (brilliantly portrayed by the incomparable Ben Kingsley), on his way to Moscow for a meeting. While the plot gets a little lost and improbable, its pace speeds up to locomotive levels. What follows makes this independent film a top-notch thriller. I keep finding myself drawn to these independent movies that often don’t play long in Des Moines or many other smaller cities. And I wonder why there isn’t more of a market for them. It might be that the studios or the distributors just don’t want to spend the money to promote these fine films for fear of losing money. Or it might be that the “stoner” films, grunge comedies, and blockbuster comic book movies are the only sure things these days. Anyway, if Transsiberian is playing near you, see it. The cast is tremendous, the story perfectly paced, and the outcome not certain until the last scene.