Movies: The Girl On The Train

(Drivebycuriosity) - "The Girl on the Train" is one of the strongest thrillers of the recent years (here my review driveby). I enjoyed the book very much and couldn`t wait to see the film adaption, which is now in the US cinema theaters. To say it frankly, the book is certainly better, especially the final. The novel immerses deeply into the thinking of the protagonists and makes the twists more plausible. But I enjoyed the movie anyway and recommend to watch it and then to read the book.

The film focuses on Rachel, a heavy alcoholic, who has huge problems with her memory - thanks to the alcohol. Rachel gets obsessed with the fate of Megan, a young woman, whom she doesn`t know but had frequently spotted by looking out of a commuter train window. Megan had disappeared and Rachel believes that she knows something about that, but she is spooked by her memory problems, which leads to ....... (this is a spoiler free blog - you can find a synopsis here wikipedia).

I think director Tate Taylor translated the dark mystery and the psychological thrills of the book nicely into a big Hollywood movie. The combination of suspense, Rachel´s mental issues and (some) action was well done. As in many Hollywood movies, "The Girl" benefits form the actors. I believe that Emily Blunt will earn an Oscar nomination for incarnating the troubled Rachel.

I also enjoyed watching Haley Bennett (pic above) who - as Megan -  delivered a strong performance too and might get an Oscar nomination as well. I have just 2 critic points: I was a bit irritated that the producers cast Rebecca Ferguson for another important role even that she resembles much Haley Benett. So I confused the similar looking actresses in the begin of the film. I also think that casting Allison Janney as the investigating cop wasn`t a good idea because this actress is too well known from so many movies (also in a current TV commercial) and so does not really convince in this role.

But I got comforted by the superb cinematography by  Charlotte Bruus Christensen. Every shot looked like a piece of art and I took great pleasure watching what was going on on the screen irrespective of the plot.

"The Girl on The Train" is a solid movie adaption - even with its flaws - and works nicely as a thriller for the fall season.