The UK promotion for J Blakeson's directorial debut
The Disappearance of Alice Creed has already kick off with the launch of the official site, a new quad poster and a trailer. Todd says hes quite fond of the indie thriller in
his review at TIFF. Here's the plot outline according to CinemaNX:
Two men - one in his twenties, the other nearer forty, both intensely
focused on the task at hand - line the inside of a transit van with
plastic. Shopping, they buy a drill, a mattress and other supplies. In
a small flat they assemble a bed for the mattress and staple foam
insulation and board to the walls and windows of a bedroom. Then, their
meticulous preparations complete, they kidnap a young woman. They drag
her from the street into the back of the van and, with a bag over her
head and ball gag in her mouth, take her back to the flat, tying her to
the bed in the room they have converted into a prison cell.
The
kidnappers are Danny (Martin Compston) and Vic (Eddie Marsan), two
ex-cons planning to make a mint on the ransom for the young woman. The
younger, nervier of the two, Danny defers to the more experienced Vic,
who acts with a steely conviction. Their hostage is Alice Creed (Gemma
Arterton), daughter of a rich businessman, chosen by Vic and Danny as
their passport to a better life. Terrified and immobile at first, it
soon becomes clear that Alice isn't about to let her captors use her as
capital without a fight. As determined to escape as Vic and Danny are
to succeed, Alice enters into a battle of wills which strains the
already fractious relationship between the two men. As the deadline for
the exchange draws nearer, all three are brought close to breaking
point, with Vic and Danny's foolproof plan descending into a desperate
struggle for survival.
A taut, emotionally intense thriller, the
debut feature from writer-director J Blakeson eschews genre convention,
generating tension from the sexual and psychological ties that bind
captive to captors. Produced by Adrian Sturges (The Escapist), the film
stars Gemma Arterton (Quantum of Solace, Prince of Persia), Eddie
Marsan (Happy Go Lucky, Sherlock Holmes) and Martin Compston (Sweet
Sixteen, Red Road).
In UK Cinemas on April 30th. You'll find the trailer embedded below.