The Two Faces of January. (15.)
Directed by Hossien Amini.
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Issacs, David Warshofsky and Daisy Bevan. 96 mins.
Thriller writer Patricia Highsmith had a knack for plumbing the depths of human behaviour and crafting from it very satisfying pieces of entertainment. Her novels feature venal, twisted sociopaths but ones that seem not too far removed from yourself or the people you know. Most thriller writers want to take you to a world that is exotic, strange and outside your experience (such as Essex.) The people in a Highsmith story could be people you had dinner with; and their crimes could be things happen on your doorstep, that give you a moment's pause when you skim through them in the local paper (even when they are set in the Mediterranean.)
Though her plots came with the requisite selection of twists and shocks, they could still encompass the vagaries of chance and dumb luck. The events of Two Faces are set in motion because of something as petty as a facial resemblance to a family member. It is Greece in 1962 and Issacs is an American ex-pat hustling holidaymakers as a tour guide. Mortensen and Dunst are a rich couple over from the States. At first, audiences assume he is sizing them up as potential marks, but his stares are provoked by Mortensen’s resemblance to his late father. The couple mistake his interest for something more sinister – they are, of course, not quite what they seem – and soon their mutual fates are tied together by a violent event.
Highsmith’s novels have been filmed by Hitchcock and Wenders, but this adaptation is closest in feel and mood to The Talented Mr Ripley. It is gripping, but tastefully so. The three stars and some scenery are the whole film but first time director Ameni (he wrote Wings of the Dove and Drive) keeps us in involved as they try to lever for an edge over each other, and stay ahead of the law. You sense though that this is one of Highsmith’s thinner creations; it’s done well but there’s really not a lot to it. At the end of the film as we filed out I overheard people saying, “I enjoyed that” but always presaged by a little “hmm,” which says agreeably satisfied rather than exhilarated.
The Two Faces of January. (15.)
Directed by Hossien Amini.
Starring Viggo Mortensen, Kirsten Dunst, Oscar Issacs, David Warshofsky and Daisy Bevan. 96 mins.
Thriller writer Patricia Highsmith had a knack for plumbing the depths of human behaviour and crafting from it very satisfying pieces of entertainment. Her novels feature venal, twisted sociopaths but ones that seem not too far removed from yourself or the people you know. Most thriller writers want to take you to a world that is exotic, strange and outside your experience (such as Essex.) The people in a Highsmith story could be people you had dinner with; and their crimes could be things happen on your doorstep, that give you a moment's pause when you skim through them in the local paper (even when they are set in the Mediterranean.)
Though her plots came with the requisite selection of twists and shocks, they could still encompass the vagaries of chance and dumb luck. The events of Two Faces are set in motion because of something as petty as a facial resemblance to a family member. It is Greece in 1962 and Issacs is an American ex-pat hustling holidaymakers as a tour guide. Mortensen and Dunst are a rich couple over from the States. At first, audiences assume he is sizing them up as potential marks, but his stares are provoked by Mortensen’s resemblance to his late father. The couple mistake his interest for something more sinister – they are, of course, not quite what they seem – and soon their mutual fates are tied together by a violent event.
Highsmith’s novels have been filmed by Hitchcock and Wenders, but this adaptation is closest in feel and mood to The Talented Mr Ripley. It is gripping, but tastefully so. The three stars and some scenery are the whole film but first time director Ameni (he wrote Wings of the Dove and Drive) keeps us in involved as they try to lever for an edge over each other, and stay ahead of the law. You sense though that this is one of Highsmith’s thinner creations; it’s done well but there’s really not a lot to it. At the end of the film as we filed out I overheard people saying, “I enjoyed that” but always presaged by a little “hmm,” which says agreeably satisfied rather than exhilarated.
