Friday, October 7, 2016

Movie Review: The Girl on the Train

The worst case scenario. This is mostly what this story is about. The worst case example of alcoholism and having blackouts, marrying the wrong person and the aftermath of a divorce. With this complex story, the aftermath of the central character Jennifer played well by Emily Blunt's divorce is watching her x-husband get married again and have a baby with another woman as she falls deeper into alcoholism to the point of having blackouts where she cannot even remember important incidents that have happened for days.

This film is a story that is told in unusual ways with at first, broad overviews of what is happening or what has happened and then very frequent flashbacks to scenes that have happened in the near of distant past. The overall story and plot behind this complex film are not that unique but what is unique and watchable is how the story is told which is mostly not like any other movies I have seen before. I have not read the book The Girl on the Train yet but I assume that the book is about the same as the movie, where the story is told in little pieces where plot lines are slowly added in using frequent flashbacks. What is good about this movie is that this complex way of telling a story was done well enough in that it did not become too difficult to follow and in the end, this movie was an effective thriller that did work overall.

Justin Theroux plays Jennifer's x-husband in one of the few leading roles I can remember seeing him in as he as mostly been a writer. Newcomer Haley Bennet is very effective as the other woman in this film and she also appeared in the recent remake of the Magnificent Seven, also reviewed in this blog. It is rare to see an actress like this in two major releases in a row within a few weeks. Rebecca Ferguson plays Theroux's wife in the film and is also very good in her role.

There are some people who will probably not follow or not like the unusual way this story was told, but I think that in movie making, trying to do something that has never been done before or being unique and groundbreaking is a good thing. One downside with this film would be the constant depression Blunt's character is always in, despite the understandable circumstances. I thought this was a good movie and I do recommend it.

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