Prisoners (2013)

Prisoners is a movie that I had been meaning to see for years. Very early in the film you can tell that this is going to be something a little bit different, something deeper then usual. There is a richness to the proceedings, it has the weight of a novel even though it was written directly for the screen. You can tell that things, even seemingly minor things in the film have been very thoroughly thought out, and the movie is very precisely constructed, at first it appears to be one thing and then revels itself to be something else, and more then once. The story of the disappearance and presumed abduction of two young girls from a suburban Pennsylvania neighborhood on Thanksgiving Day, every character in the movie comes to be a prisoner of those events, and the ways they react are deep explorations of their true characters. Fine acting from a strong cast anchored by Hugh Jackman and Jake Gyllenahaal but also featuring impressive work from Viola Davis, Terrence Howard, Maria Bello, Melissa Leo and Paul Dano. Directed by French Canadian filmmaker Denis Villeneuve, who also did The Arrival, I really need to see more of the guys work. This movie pretty well bowled me over, and I think the emotion of the piece may have obscured some defects that might stand out more on a repeat viewing, but as an unusually strong drama with really surprising surprises, I'm going to give it  ****.