Upcoming Release Review: Shadow Dancer (James Marsh, 2012)

Shadow Dancer is patiently paced and intermittently gripping and doubles as a spy thriller and family drama. Marsh is not interested in producing big thrills, but tells a slow-burning tale of a desperate woman – a mother, a daughter and a sister – who has to make a choice and by making that choice, abandon those she loves and place the lives of herself and her son in danger.

Set in Belfast in 1993 on the eve of the Joint Declaration of Peace, Colette McVeigh (Andrew Riseborough, W.E and Brighton Rock), an active member of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), becomes an informant for MI5, in order to protect her young son’s welfare. After being arrested following a failed bombing of the London Underground an MI5 agent, Mac (Clive Owen), offers the single mother a choice: face 25 years of imprisonment with her son turned into foster care, or turn informant and spy on her brothers, Conner (Domhnall Gleeson) and Gerry (Aidan Gillen). Having returned home to Belfast to live with her mother (Brid Brennan), and once again getting mixed up with her brothers and their associates, Collette betrays her family and beliefs and acts as a mole. But, just Collette struggles to keep her cover Mac has to take increasing risks to protect her from other agents, including his boss (Gillian Anderson), who have classified interest in the case.

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