Faces In The Crowd (2011) Review

Director: Julien Magnat

Actors: Milla Jovovich, Julian Mcmahon, David Atrakchi.

Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery

Sidenote: I have to forewarn you that I’ve never been and never will be a good critic, largely because I have such a short-term memory and I am kinda slow in connecting the dots. Anyway, this is the first time I've had a crack at writing movie review. So, may we say it’s worth a shot to read a newbie's work? ;))

Oh, and this is the movie link for those who don't watch it yet : http://ffilms.org/faces-in-the-crowd-2011/
The review below contains a lot of spoilers, so please make sure you watched the film first.

When I first decided to watch “Faces in the crowd”, I honestly admit that it was because I saw this movie title in Julian Mcmahon’s filmography and that was inducing enough to make me jump right into the search (although the film’s overall rate on IMDb is only 5.5). Right now when I am sitting down to write this review, I can safely say that it is not for hailing Julian or something but seriously to comment on the film itself. So here we go…

The film opens in a way that is really to my liking – it gives us a little time to get acquainted with the main characters and quickly unveils the main plot. Anna was diagnosed “prosopagnosia” or “face blindness” after the survival from a serial killer’s attack. The killer may be around her anytime without her perception. In fact, the whole film revolves around the scenes where Anna lived in terror, disturbance and her own obsession with the killer. The film’s rhythm is just appropriate – neither too quick nor too slow – so that viewers can  keep track of what’s happening.

Actually, the face blindness idea is pretty good and it creates a necessary confusion and complexity to keep the viewers curious and engaged. One thrilling but funny-as-it-turned-out episode is when Anna didn’t recognize her dad and took him for the murder after her. The film uses face-changing technique to its advantage to somehow distract viewers, thus hides the real face of the killer. Even I myself had difficulty recognizing characters sometimes. 

Also, this face blindness issue gives us food for thoughts, which was delivered by a character named Dr. Langenkamp. She helped Anna struggle with the latter’s problem by learning distinctive marks to tell people apart. I find it interesting and cute how Anna used the cravat as a tip to recognize her boyfriend Bryce. Back to my point, Dr. Langenkamp appeared to remind not only Anna, but also everybody that we are so used to recognizing people by their faces that we almost overlook other features that can help distinguish one from another. It may be people’s gestures, their mannerisms, or as Dr. Langenkamp said, the “melody” that you can hum to and “sing at the top of your voice”. By the way, I wonder why the writer didn't let Anna recognize people by their voices. It is the first thing that a person with facial recognition problem should think of! There is a saying of Dr. Langenkamp that I like very much. That is: “Out of a thousand faces, one might miraculously linger”. This was better enlightened when Anna burst out in surprise on recognizing Kerrest’s face (the only face she could recognize, actually).

The plot is logically developed and details used to support it are quite believable. The serial killer’s moves are clear as the story goes from the death of one of Anna’s best friends – Francine to the manipulated meeting between Anna and Bryce. In my mind, from the beginning of the movie, there emerged 4 suspects:

- Kerrest

- Lanyon

- Bryce: the suspicion was cleared out after the DNA result came out suggesting that he wasn’t the murder.

- Some man on the street à this option sounds the most irrational because if the murder were a total stranger, the film would be a huge disappointment.

So the investigation was left with two police officers! The face-changing technique once again tangled me and I decided to wait for the real murder to show up (at least that way I can enjoy the sentimental moments till the end of the film ;P) And the truth about the serial killer proved me right. He is Lanyon, the quiet but dangerous police buddy of Kerrest. He was well-disguised but the movie itself from the beginning had already revealed a hint about his suspicious mental background. Like any other horror-thriller, here we have a chasing scene between the murder and the victim. Well, I must say David Atrakchi did a not bad job. And his lines are somewhat poignant and creepy-sounded, like: “This, Anna, is why I like blades so much” [when Anna’s gun ran out of charges], or the sentence he said to Kerrest [just a minute before Anna learned that Kerrest had been accidentally shot by her]: “I guess you will never take her to the police ball”.

Anna, the leading role, appeared as a beautiful and gentle teacher, but became extremely vulnerable after the attack. This image shows us a totally different Milla Jovovich - worlds apart from her tough personality in Resident Evil. She expressed well the confused, frustrated and insecure feeling of a woman under constant threats and meanwhile struggling with her own syndrome. She played a lovely role but I still think her character needs a little more profound affection when it comes to love. As in here, I see almost no true chemistry between Anna and Kerrest. 

About Kerrest, my favorite character for you-know-why, he appeared with an impression of a cold and rude man (by the way he shouted at Anna) and he was even suspicious after he met with the hobo shortly before the latter’s death. But his good nature gradually unfolded as he was the one that Anna would always turn to when she was in danger, and there was “something” between them. The romance bloomed when they were in Koel Island but just save that part for those who are greatly interested in romance :P The tragic part when Kerrest came to rescue Anna from his evil colleague is quite remarkable. He died with his eyes open. Rain poured down on his face, wiping out the blood… But his perpetual image seems to pass on to his little daughter with Anna.

The ending warms our hearts with the bright, peaceful scene in Koel Island, where Anna and her daughter lead a happy life. And the last line goes: “And just when I thought I’d lost everything, I found a face, one face in which I can always read,…love”. Truth be told, I don’t quite believe this line came out of Anna’s mouth, who had a short-lived unremarkable romance.

In one word, the movie has some necessary merits of its genres – sentimental, thrilling and fascinating. The cast are quite good and the script is well-written. I barely have a complaint about it but others may ask for more. It’s up to each person. For all I’ve watched, I would give this movie a 8/10 (don’t be surprised, I am usually that generous in rating ;)) And once again, Julian didn’t let me down after all :))

And if you want to look at this film from a bit different viewpoint, you can try this review: http://www.28dayslateranalysis.com/2011/10/faces-in-crowd-and-laughing-at-kismet.html

It's by far the most acceptable review according to me. One thing is it doesn't belittle this movie like some others. Another thing is it has a neutral perspective which I can possibly embrace.

P.S. I would be very glad to read your reviews if you've got any :)