Mindscape

Director Jorge Dorado makes his feature debut with this psychological thriller that encroaches on Inception territory as it explores the darker recesses of the mind. Mark Strong stars as a psychic with the ability to enter people's memories who is called in to help teenager Taissa Farmiga after she goes on hunger strike. But during their sessions together, sinister secrets from her past begin to come to light. The concept is certainly a tantalising one, but there are too many lulls between dramatic scenes, while the script struggles to make sense of an overly complex back story. Dorado does create the sinister dream sequences with skill, but any attempt to build atmosphere is let down by the cliché-ridden dialogue and plastic performances, with Strong in particular failing to bring his usual intensity to the role of troubled hero fighting his own demons.