Faces in the Crowd

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.

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.

The opening montage is artful and interesting, and as you're watching the movie, you probably are interested in the premise, that life would be very complicated if you couldn't recognize faces any longer. So you sit back and prepare for something that might be along the lines of "Insomnia", an thriller with a real foundation in psychological manipulation, with twists and surprises to keep you guessing.

And after that opening montage, it's pretty much all just clichés and tired plot devices and stale acting. We've seen the leads do much better than this. The 'filler' scenes are so trite they feel like they were written and shot in one take. And the 'action' scenes are shot in a way that does engage us at all. And as for the plot itself... have we ever seen a woman fleeing a villain and trip before? Have we seen the protagonist stuck in a situation where the hero has to rush to save her but he can't get to her quickly? And finally, the main crux of the film, the face blindness, is interesting for about three minutes, and then it gets incredibly stale, and yet we have to sit through another hour+ of it. Give this story to Chris Nolan and you'd have something fantastic - but this incarnation of it is really not worth wasting the time on.

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.