KEEPING TRACK

US, 1986, 102 minutes, Colour.
Michael Sarrazin, Margot Kidder.
Directed by Robin Spry.

Keeping Track is a Canadian thriller by director Robin Spry (One Man's Way). It is a mixture of thriller and science fiction message - about technology and international terrorism. Michael Sarazzin and Margot Kidder are quite effective as the central couple, entangled in murder and espionage.

The plot is quite complex - and there are some special effects, especially in a final television collage, to highlight possible scenarios for international terrorism and for industrial espionage.

1. Effective thriller? Murder mystery? Science fiction thriller? The media?

2. Canadian production, settings, the special effects, the credits sequences and the television collage? Pace? Musical score?

3. The title, its relationship to the protagonists, to scientific developments and espionage?

4. The introduction to the heroine: science, the bank, her efficiency, hopes for promotion, her colleague and his disappointment, on the train to New York, her work?

5. The introduction to Daniel: split-second timing, delays, television reporter, the face on the screen, his reports, going on vacation, on the train, flirting?

6. The train journey, the meeting of the two, the confrontation and the murder, stopping the train, the chase in the snow, the dead body by the river? The disappearance of the body? The pursuit of the killer? The scepticism of the police? Official reactions, the Mounties, politics, the bank officials, the media?

7. The dangers for the couple, going back to the city, the searchers, Daniel with the money in the locker, the mystery of the money? The heroine and her sense of righteousness, clashes with him? The mutual danger, enquiries, the searches in the rooms, the Mounted Police official?

8. The attacks on each, the puzzle, the spies, the bank officials, the world of international espionage?

9. The final plan, the TV programme, the hypotheses, scenarios, the truth? The officials watching? The irony of who was on the right side and who was the enemy? The spy, the double agent? Threats?

10. The final destruction of the technological development? The horror scenario? The use of communications? An effective message thriller?