Film

Downward spiralling psyches in The Captive

Canadian writer-director Atom Egoyan customarily delivers powerful images, juxtaposing eerie shots of landscapes with restrained visuals which hint at dark deeds. Recently, however, his poor writing has unsuccessfully melded exploitative moviemaking with art-film milieu. He’s at his best when, like a ventriloquist, we don’t see his lips move — the mannequin that is his artwork comes alive and seems to live independently. I saw flashes of this brilliance in The Captive. A father (Ryan Reynolds) leaves his tired daughter sleeping in the rear seat of his truck to go into a bakery on a cold, snowy day. The camera cuts…

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