Shadow Dancer (2013)

Shadow Dancer is one of the vaguest, most inaccessible movies I’ve seen in a really long time. The title comes from a scene in which star Clive Owen types the words “shadow dancer” as the password on some sort of computer program labeled “FINANCIAL RECORDS”, which leads to a high-tension sequence in which Owen digs through a filing cabinet, producing documents that may or may not hold any significance. I actually have no idea. I have thought about the movie quite a bit since I watched it and I keep thinking I surely must have missed something; some thickly-accented passing comment that explains the whole movie. I’m more convinced that this movie is just plain bad. If the aforementioned scene has anything to do with anything else in the movie, a good film would have told us why or at least made us interested in how.

Rather depressingly, Shadow Dancer begins with great promise. A flashback scene shows a young girl accidentally leading her younger brother into his murder, a well-made moment that holds no bearing on the story and is never mentioned again. We then jump ahead to the film’s present, where the girl, now older, is apparently about to leave a bomb on a London subway. She is picked up by British Intelligence, which is where Owen comes in, and given a choice to spend an extended period in prison away from her son, or become an agent to spy on her own criminal family. It’s a great beginning that leads to a lengthy procession of scenes that appear unrelated to others. The screenplay was written by Tom Bradby, which was based on his own novel, and perhaps the book is clearer about things. The film is basically a montage of disconnected moments. Characters appear, say something dramatic like, “Don’t. Not…not today,” and then disappear again. Other characters are tortured and killed, but we don’t know why and don’t much care. At one point, the main characters passionately kiss for a few seconds, despite the fact that there is no suggestion of a connection between them before or after the incident. It is unintentionally hilarious.

Maybe Bradby assumed all the characters and events would speak for themselves, but maybe he just isn’t a very good storyteller. I am not yet familiar with acclaimed director James Marsh’s work, but I question his logic in making this movie at all, but even moreso for making it this way. As much clarity as the story already lacks, he makes things worse by pacing it with the speed of a handicapped snail. He has his actors behave rigidly, hiding all emotion and turning certain scenes into something like a staring contest. Nothing in Shadow Dancer fits together and it remains completely obtuse for the duration of its 100 minutes, providing little, if any, reason for its existence. Some may say that it is contemplative. I argue that it’s simply empty-headed.

To avoid accusations of being unfair or ignorant, I will clarify that I personally hated Shadow Dancer and am not saying that everyone will. If you can find enjoyment in this movie, like 82% of the rottentomatoes critics, more power to you. I had more difficulty.

4/10