Events

Come see Prisoners presented with stunning 4K laser projection on the big screen in L3!

Leading his family with tradition and his survivalist beliefs, what if something happens that no one, not even Keller Dover, can prepare for?

Director Denis Villeneuve borrows elements of the detective noir genre and places it within suburban Pennsylvania to create a grungy psychological thriller with twists hiding within the darkness of its cinematography. Prisoners opens with two families coming together for thanksgiving, a seemingly normal scene until their two daughters go missing. Detective Loki (Jake Gyllenhaal) is assigned to the case, under the hawk-eyed gaze of the press, the town and Keller Dover (Hugh Jackman), a father who will stop at nothing to find his daughter.

As we are led into a false expectation of resolutions, both the characters and audience soon realise that this case has been going on longer than they thought. With each suspect and piece of evidence that is brought in, they merely raise more questions and cast further darkness over the case, questioning if they will find these young girls before it is too late. 

The film includes stellar performances from Terrance Howard and Viola Davis as their characters act as a moral soundboard to Hugh Jackman’s spiral into paternal rage. Furthermore, Paul Dano’s performance as Alex Jones leaves audiences sick when seeing his eery combination of guilt and innocence creating an unsteady foundation for audiences to build their assumptions off of. It is surrounding the characters interactions with each other under this stressor that Villeneuve initiates meaningful commentaries:

Does survivalism turn you against others out of instinct? Does it make you jump to conclusions when you are conditioned to expect threats around every corner?

At what point does bypassing the law and God become acceptable due to the pain of loss?

The film reveals to us, as well as to the characters themselves, the monsters we become when we are stripped of what makes us human, when we are stripped of love and instead become creatures of instinct. [Liv Farragher]

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