Overall, i enjoyed this film. Similar to Prisoners, it was quite suspenseful and was left wanting to know more..
One thing i didn't quite understand was the relationship between the evil Mika & his boss.
Was Vince aware / part of the pedophile ring?
He had some weird interaction with Rosario Dawson's character & with Mika.
Anyone's thoughts ..?
I think the observation Vince made about Mika's character was accurate, as he was treating Cassandra also as a friend and that's what ultimately led to his capture (as she was leaving clues wherever she could).
Goes to show that, without investing a certain amount of trust, you can't really do anything that you would ever find meaningful in life. And that's speaking even for Mika's secret occupation.
In my opinion, Vince wasn't involved in the ring at all.
she was leaving clues wherever she could
Well, she used her situation to gain as much freedom (or leeway) as she could and when she had the power to suggest activities that would "keep her happy", she started turning them to opportunities. For example, by suggesting to her father that she knows that her skating partner still stood by his promise of never skating with somebody else. Which, in turn, made her father suspicious of the woman asking questions at the skating rink which unfolded the conclusion of the story.
As for a twist to the story, one doesn't come to mind. Maybe the fact that victims became accomplices (and even more than that, as when the girl starts shooting at Ryan Reynolds' car at the end). Who knows, maybe Mika had the same experience himself, and the ring is actually a self sustaining organism. But I don't see a different, specific twist anywhere.
Thanks, that makes sense.
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"Could you please get your head out of your ass? It's not a hat!" - Pitch Perfect
very very good comments kameeleoned out
shareAnd concerning Vince's interaction with Rosario Dawson, it seem to me that it was simply a matter of a married man awkwardly hitting on an extremely guarded and distrustful woman (given her background and current occupation). A weird interaction is to be expected. :)
shareInteresting; I had the same suspicion. There was definitely something going on here or at least hinted at. When I first watched the scene where Vince meets Nicole I had to rewind it twice to try to figure out what Vince was trying to say about "being betrayed". She does a double-take which is a clue to the audience "pay attention to this scene".
Will have to watch this again along with the early scene with Vince giving Mika advice about how to deal with his underlings - "don't be their friends" - who is he really talking about?
The ring is very well financed; having Vince behind it for funding makes sense as would his close association with Vince. There also seemed to be some odd stuff going on at the table with Vince interacting with Mika and Nicole; fake yawn, etc.
Will need to re-watch these scenes and maybe track down the script. I think that at the very least, Egoyan is hinting to us that Vince may be involved.
[edit] If Vince was in on it, this could explain why the wife wasn't returning calls from the police. <- other explanations for this??
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interestingly did not see any comments about the name "Cassandra"; would tend to support theory that maybe the girl had been molested by dad and wasn't believed by mom. Would also explain mom's over-the-top blame of the father and the scene towards the end when her jaw drops; looking like she was about to accuse him of something even if she thought he had nothing to do with the abduction.
you also forgot where Vince tells Nicole about lost of trust and uniform (at the dinner when he quickly apologizes and Nicole practically goes WTF).
shareI think the yawn was to make us (and Mika) think that there was an unintentional mixup with the drugged drinks, to create a bit of tension.
I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe
I agree with you about the yawn, and I think a lot of the things people have questions about were put into the movie as red herrings to keep the audience guessing. Things like the yawn are meant to throw the viewer off track, so a lot of the answers are "because he was tired/bored" or otherwise inconsequential. I liked the movie, but for all the manipulating of the viewer, I expected a big twist at the end that I never got, unless the twist was that there was no twist.
shareThere was never anything to suggest he was part of the ring. I think it was just Vince being thrown in as a suspect to show the cops being thrown off the scent. There was a bit of a theme throughout of the cops focussing on the wrong people because of their own histories.
I choose to believe what I was programmed to believe