Original 'Variety' Review

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117913788.html?categoryid=31&cs=1

Perhaps "Trance" would be a more appropriate title for this stupefyingly dull , painfully amateurish indie effort. Told from the p.o.v. of a sensitive escapee from a Southwest Florida juvenile detention center, the pic is a road movie that takes a great deal of time to go nowhere. Technically crude and dramatically limp, "Trans" won't travel far beyond the global fest circuit.

As Ryan Kazinski, the young loner who slogs through swampland and urban jungles while fleeing pursuers, newcomer Ryan Daugherty is unable to sustain interest, much less generate sympathy. A few encounters with mildly curious strangers --- including several nonprofessionals in bit parts --- do little to relieve the tedium. First-time feature helmer Julian Goldberger deserves some credit for avoiding a melodramatic wind-up after Ryan steals a handgun from a too-trusting woman who gives him a lift. But Goldberger also deserves a raspberry for the ham-handed symbolism of his final scene, in which Ryan enjoys the brief freedom of an airplane flight.

(from the Mar 15, 1999 issue)

Amen, brother.