Faces in the Crowd

The condition exists, the only thing made up is that cheesy idea that you will meet someone special whose face you will remember, there are different levels of prosopagnosia and if you have it that bad, that is all.

No, you can't recognise people just by their voice, maybe after some time of focusing on it with that intention. My condition is not as bad as hers but I have to make a mental list of things that distinguishes the person from the others, which is not too practical because they are common or can change. At the start is just hair color, beard, glasses, skin color, fat/thin and "does he have glasses?", scars are blessing. The only non measurable thing I've ever use are things like "Something in his eyes makes it seem like he is always sad" (which isn't always true..., so no reliable either).

The measure she uses at some point of the movie is funny but makes sense. After some months I can actually see the differences and not just memorize them, but I'm a lucky one (and don't dare to change your haircut). Until then I have to count the stripes of the zebra.

I have mixed reactions after watching this movie. In some ways, the movie has exceeded my expectations, but then lets it down again and again.

On the positive side, there hasn't been a good whodunit murder mystery in a long time. Taking that into consideration, this movie is a welcome change and even starts of as a good murder mystery. Another welcome change is having Milla Jovovich in a more meaningful role as compared to her heroic association with the "Resident Evil" franchise. As Anna Merchant, Jovovich is a primary school teacher who witnesses a horrific murder after a night out with her friends. Dubbed "Tearjerk Jack" for violating women after killing them and then weeping over their lifeless bodies, the serial killer chases Anna until she falls off a bridge. Two weeks later, Anna wakes up in a hospital with a rare condition known as Prosopagnosia or Face Blindness where her ability to recognize faces is impaired. The disorder becomes an ordeal when she can no longer recognize her friends, the children she teaches and even people close to her like her father. After therapy, Anna realizes that Face Blindness is a serious disorder unless she learns to cope with it. In the process, she gets close to detective Kerrest (Julian McMahon) and learns that the serial killer is still at large. Worse, the killer knows of her condition and is now closing in to finish the job.

Written and directed by Julian Magnat, the concept is almost original and suffices as a thriller. Anna's confusion is actually felt because Magnat uses an average of 3 to 4 actors for each character in the movie. Anna's boyfriend Bryce, played by Michael Shanks, is also played by about 10 other actors. This premise works to some extant by placing the audience in Anna's perspective and each time we see different faces. Prosopagnosia is an actual disorder and portraying it in this movie is a definite tick mark for Magnat. Then it all goes downhill. The rest of the movie becomes so clichéd, it gets to be annoyingly predictable. With most whodunits, the audience is always introduced to the killer, sometimes very early in the plot, before unveiling who the killer is. With this movie, Magnat does the same, but places the killer in easy reach of Anna. So why then should we wait till the end of the movie for the killer to strike? Obviously because the film has to be made with a minimum runtime of 100 minutes! But it doesn't stop there. The ending has to be the mother of all clichés when Anna cannot tell the difference between the hero and the killer because they wear the same clothes. Another negative aspect is the unnecessary romance thrown in. In all of this mess, Anna is romantically inclined to one character, who happens to have the only face she can recognize. Go figure!

For a thriller, Milla Jovovich is not bad as the lead character. No way is she getting anywhere near an Oscar for her performance here, but her portrayal is definitely better than some of her other releases. I can't really say much about the other actors as there are various actors that keep switching each time Anna encounters another character. Since this is Magnat's second foray as director and first as screenwriter, I don't want to be too harsh on the outcome. As a learning curve, if he had paid a little more attention to the plot and it's execution in the final act, this could have been a master thriller.

Watch it if you have to, but on a lazy day. As an alternative, I recommend 1992's "Blink", a similar concept but with a better finish, starring the lovely Madeleine Stowe.

"He's not stupid enough to go after the one person who can recognize him, right?" After a night of drinking with her friends Anna (Jovovich)decides to walk home alone. While walking she sees a murder take place and is attacked by the "Tear-Jerked Jack" serial killer. After falling off a bridge she wakes up as the lone survivor. She also wakes up with a disease called face-blindness, a condition which affects you from recognizing any faces...even your own. Lately it seems like the lower budget movies are much better then the big blockbusters. This one is no exception. While this movie started to repeat itself to the point of being annoying it was still tense and keeps you interested and watching through out. Jovovich is becoming a very good actress and she continues to build upon what she did in "Stone". A pretty original idea that if it weren't for the repetition of the problem would have been an excellent movie. That said even with the repeating this is still a very good movie that is very much worth seeing. Overall, a surprisingly good and tense thriller that deserves more of an audience that it will get. I give it a B+.

Would I watch again? - I might, just to see if I can catch the clues.

This was a decent flick. Never heard of this type of brain injury. Learned something new. Has Jovovich been in better? Heck yes!!! I still enjoyed the watch.

OK, the idea of the movie was quite lovely, didn't expect it, never seen it before therefore I'll have to start with some praises but end it with less enthusiasm sadly. The movie flows nicely, we learn more about Anna's condition, some tension building up, we start to suspect one or the other and then, well it becomes quite clear who the killer is. And from that point on, of course, things aren't that interesting anymore considering the fact that the thrill kinda lost its touch. Nevertheless, overall, it is a nice breath of fresh air really, trust me you can do a whole lot worse than this one, just keep in mind it's not really a horror, more of a thriller with some horror elements incorporated but few at number.

Also, if you liked it, and you probably will, you MUST try "Julia's Eyes"! You can call these 2 movies, step sisters to be honest, in my opinion, the Spanish one wins tho!

So, don't waste more time, try it out, try both of them out, nice adder to the gender!