Faces in the Crowd

We don't get to watch many thrillers lately so I was hopeful about this movie. It was actually satisfactory enough, the changing faces of the supporting cast was fun and sufficient to emphasize with Milla's character. If this was a bigger budget movie, it would be delightful to have some of these faces by more recognizable character actors depending on the situation and her disposition towards them. As it was, the film was more like a procession of many extras (note the collaboration of 4-5 studios). For some weird reason I expected and hoped she would at some point see Philip Seymour Hoffman as her husband, Luiz Guzman as the cop, Eric Roberts as Lanyon, but of course that didn't happen :) I agree with others that the love affair looked superficial and lacking chemistry, but just think (after watching the film) how it would be elevated by a clever and ambitious casting of supporting actors.

On the downside, the suspense level was not really high and the film never came close to being chilling. It could have been a much more captivating thriller. Sometimes the story of the killer was almost a sub-plot and it was her prognosis that was at the forefront, I guess Milla preferred it that way for having more opportunity to display her serious acting skills. My alternative would be to have more scenes with Lanyon and also more innovative stalking by the Lurker. That way the audience would engage better in making guesses about the killer's identity and could actually still be amazed by a clever twist at the end.

Here is a diversion about the leading actor (well, the movie became rather dull enough times to give me an opportunity to amuse myself by reflecting on her career). I think Milla is cleverly changing gear, she is very positively stuck in my mind with the Fifth Element (that was when Bruce Willis was a dashing action star) and I noted her acting in the Million Dollar Hotel as well as her portrayal of Jean Darc. When you come to think of it, she has a remarkably diverse and rich filmography with leading roles in major films while she was very young. Overall however, her last ten years went largely unnoticed by people who are not into resident evil, so now she has the chance to make a re-entry as a fresh face who happens to have a lot of acting experience. In the next few years she could aptly make her mark as the lead actress of noirs and thrillers (a role played by Kim Basinger and Michelle Pheiffer in the last decade).

To sum up, an entertaining and somewhat original movie which unfortunately is not intellectually challenging. Watch it, but with realistic expectations.

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.

Yet another case of the old "good idea, bad execution", this psychological thriller may include some mental analysis but indefinitely lacks thrills. Come on Jovovich! You clearly have talent, but you waste it in low-budget mediocrity. After escaping a serial killer and suffering with concussion, a woman soon wakes up experiencing a rare disorder that disables face recognition. Prosopagnosia, or "face blindness" to us uneducated, essentially results in every person you once knew now becoming a total stranger. The story starts off strong, and presents the diagnosis through fearful eyes thanks to Jovovich. She is, once again, the strongest aspect to this film as she is able to express a variety of emotions whilst looking at a mirror. The method in which director Magnat illustrates "face blindness" is to frequently switch the actors, whilst retaining the voice from the original actor, so that both us and the protagonist are unaware of who the character is. I have problems with this. The voice over for the switched actors never matched their lips, and rapidly grew irritating. The original actors looked bland to begin with, so when they are switched you still have no idea which character they are. This made for a disorientating and disengaging experience, which is why there were no thrills. You are unable to guess who the serial killer is because every character is changing. I understand the story is seen through her perspective, but it does not make for a captivating film. Then we get to the doctors and police officers, who are all useless at their jobs and just plain hideous. Seriously, she is lucky to be alive and they all treat her like she isn't cooperating. Not to mention the horrifically terrible editing and visual effects for the faces. Imposing an actors face to a different body requires talent. There was none on display here. Then there's a forced romance, a convoluted ending and a consistent wave of stale acting. So aside from Jovovich and the concept, this film ironically gets lost in a crowd.

The idea behind this serial killer movie - a female witness to a serial killer who is injured and can't recognize faces, even that of the killer - is a novel one. And the woman's disability does lead to some interesting scenes of her struggling with the disability. But the movie as a whole doesn't quite work. One reason is the budget - while the movie never looks extremely cheap, it's obvious throughout that the entire enterprise was done in a cost-saving manner. The main reasons the movie fails, however, is that the movie both feels very drawn out and the serial killer parts fail to be very interesting or suspenseful compared to what we've seen in other serial killer movies before. Ironically, the movie is the most interesting when it shows the female lead struggling with her disability in day to day life. I honestly feel that if the movie had ditched the whole tired serial killer plot and made a serious movie about the woman's disability that the movie would have been a lot better.

P.S. - Does a movie really need FOURTEEN executive producers?

Concept is unique but it was badly executed. Towards the end, i felt same as the character "Anna" by Milla. I couldn't tell who is who and that made me lose interest in watching.