Black Rainbow

Spiritualist Martha Travis (Arquette) puts the recently bereaved in touch with their loved ones, reassuring them of a happy hereafter; but when she develops the gift - or rather curse - of prophecy, she becomes the disembodied witness to a brutal killing, and the hit-man's next target. As she fights to convince her drunken father (Robards) and a sceptical journalist (Hulce) that her powers are real, the rainbow colours of her visions are painted black, and she slips towards madness and despair... Writer-director Hughes has coaxed superbly understated performances from his cast, even down to the suburban black-gloved assassin who commutes to killings after kissing his wife and kids. The pacing, too, is tight and restrained, building slowly so that the climax, when it comes, packs a real wallop (though he can't resist an ambiguous coda). The result is Hodges' best film since his debut with Get Carter: a psychological thriller with a brain and a heart, which challenges the audience to explore their assumptions about reality, religion and the supernatural.