Thanks to the inestimable Mr Estall I got to see a preview of Danny Boyle’s new film Sunshine last night. Better still, before the screening there was an interview with the man himself. Danny Boyle, that is, not Mr Estall. It was a good interview and he took a wide range of questions from the audience. I thought he was very open, unpretentious — especially around practicalities such as marketing a film — funny and not a little self-deprecating. He hung around after the interview to talk to some of the folks in the audience and he even stayed when the film started to roll.
And the film? Well, in genre terms it’s a sci-fi thriller/actioner. It’s definitely towards the “harder” end of sci-fi, think 2001 or Alien. It’s got the confined feel of those films too and from the interview I picked up that this was a concious choice. In places I was worried that it was going to veer towards the mindless chase-me-chase-me-blood-and-gore of something like Event Horizon but thankfully these elements of the film are kept in proportion. It was only as we discussed the film afterwards that Mr Estall and I began to appreciate how clever and different the writing really is; some of this can easily pass you buy as you are pulled along by the compelling story.
The visuals are a treat and there are some striking stylistic choices made that raises this film above the norm. If you decide to see this intelligent action flick I’d recommend finding the biggest screen you can.