Faces in the Crowd [2011]

EMM# : 9017
Added: 2015-09-04

Faces in the Crowd (2011)
She saw the killer's face, but it keeps changing...

Rating: 5.7

Movie Details:

Genre: Crime (Drama| Mystery| Thriller)

Length: 1 h 43 min - 103 min

Video: 1280x536 (23.976 Fps - 1 004 Kbps)

Studio: Minds Eye Entertainment| Frantic Films Live Action...(cut)

Location:

MOVIE TRAILER WEBLINK

Actors:

Director:

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Plot
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The elementary school teacher Anna Marchant lives with her boyfriend Bryce in a nice apartment and every now and then she meets her best friends Francine and Nina to drink and talk. When Anna is crossing a bridge to meet Bryce, she sees an infamous serial-killer killing a woman. Anna runs but she is attacked by the killer and she falls off the bridge and hits her head. Anna stays in coma for a week and when she awakes, she learns that she has brain damage followed by Prosopagnosia, a disorder of face perception where the ability to recognize faces is impaired, while the ability to recognize other objects may be relatively intact. The police detective Sam Kerrest unsuccessfully tries to force Anna to remember the face of the serial-killer. Now the serial-killer knows that Anna has seen his face, but she is incapable of even recognizing Bryce and her close friends. Written by

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hipcheck from United States
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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.

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Girish Gowda from BangaLore
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Anna Marchant (Milla Jovovich) is primary school teacher who has everything one could need; a loving boyfriend and basically a good life. One day, on her way home she witnesses the murder of a woman. The perpetrator turns out to be the notorious serial killer - "Tearjerk Jack/Killer" who cries over the dead women he has killed. He notices Anna and attacks her. During the scuffle, Anna tips over the railings and falls into the river while hitting her head and suffering a concussion. When she wakes up in the hospital, she can no longer recognize her friends faces. No face looks the same to her twice. She suffers from a real-life medical problem 'face blindness' and can't even recognize her own self in the mirror. The real horrifying part is that the killer is after her as she has seen his face. But Anna cannot defend herself since she has no idea what anybody really look like.

'Faces in the Crowd' had a highly intriguing premise which wasn't really exploited. When one loses the ability to recognize faces, their life will be in turmoil naturally. Add a serial killer into the fray, you have a hot potboiler of a tale to tell. The film starts out with a bang, but then whimpers and limps to the end. Well, the ending wasn't really dreadful. But still the writing was far too uninspired, while the direction didn't add anything to help it. Of all the other characters, I found the woman doctor to be highly annoying. She gives philosophical answers to difficult questions. I suspected who the serial killer would be halfway through the movie and it turned out I was right. Its bit of a cliché actually. I know many disagree with me on this, but I have to say Milla Jovovich is a pretty good actress and this movie actually proved it. She gives one of the best acting performances of her life even though the writing was lackluster. She was the sole shining gem in this movie and made it worth watching. But I wouldn't recommend this movie to anybody unless you really love Milla Jovovich.

5/10

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Lloyd Bayer from United Arab Emirates
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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.

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Flow from Romania
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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!

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Nitzan Havoc from Israel
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Usually, I look for Horror films to watch (and later review), simply because I'm a huge Horror fan. However, many great Horror films have many Thriller features in them especially the rush and guessing work the audience goes through, then finally the twist towards the end.

Faces in the crowd is an excellent Detective Thriller / Whodunit, using a very original and genius idea. A serial killer is terrorizing the state, and the sole eye witness who has seen him in the act - suffers head trauma and loses the ability to differentiate or remember faces. The careful and very clever cinematography portrayed the condition of "face blindness" in a very relatable way, making the audience almost go through the same experience as the protagonist.

The script was very good in my opinion, some of the lines were truly magnificent(especially those of the deaf Psychiatrist, trying to explain to the face-blind protagonist how to remember faces the same way a deaf person remembers music). The twist towards the end, however, could have been better, and the ending felt rather anticlimactic. That was very unfortunate, as this film had the potential to be one of the best.

All in all, I had a great time watching Faces in the Crowd, one of the best story ideas I've ever seen! Trying to remain objective I rate it 7, but don't miss out on it!

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hic66 from Canada
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Wow...there is such a condition...Prosopagnosia....and i thought it's a made up condition just to carry the plot of the movie. It is a disorder of face perception where the ability to recognize faces is impaired...so you can see where this can definitely become a nightmare in reality.

Faces in the Crowd is a direct-to-DVD release which surprisingly exceeds expectations. From being her fan in the Resident Evil franchise where acting is put in the back seats to blockbuster action, Milla's transition from an action heroine to a emotionally distraught survivor in a close encounter with the serial killer "tear jerk jack" becomes evident and worthy of applause. Trying to figure out who the serial killer is made a challenge even for the audience since we are not given the true "face" of the killer as his face changes throughout his encounters with Milla (Anna). This helps with the "whodunit" aspect of the movie........BUT...having said that, **MINOR SPOILER***....it's still too obvious who the killer is. That's the problem with this and every Hollywood crime movie, in reality the killer is never someone you know or would have any associations with. The chances of being in contact with a serial killer is probably like winning the lottery, even the $10 jackpot. The premise was certainly compelling and what got me to watching this (well, and Milla), but with this typical Hollywood flaw of "I'll make the serial killer someone near you", it dummies up the movie and makes it a cliché instantly. If they only made the killer a total stranger, it would have been a smart thriller...

Julian McMahon's character as the detective on the case is alright. Nothing spectacular but does his job (could do without the slight beer belly and the grubby look though). But the writer just had to make him into a love interest of Anna? LOL.

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Wizard-8 from Victoria, BC
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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?

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Stanjaudit from United States
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A very good movie. Tense, thrilling and sensational. Script and directing was good. Some folks felt that Milla Jovoich can't act. It's beyond me why some people want to beat up on some actors so bad. That's like saying John Wayne or Clint Eastwood can't perform or are one dimensional. Come on folks actors are professionals and put their time into it as they know their job is to entertain us.

In the case of this movie the rare disease that Anna suffered, Milla Jovoich would've spent time learning about it and how people cope with it. After all she was one of the Executive Producers of this movie. She is serious about her business and the roles she takes on. Faces in the Crowd is no exception.

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blanche-2 from United States
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Is this how Julian McMahon really looks now, or was it just for this movie? Mila Jovovich stars in "Faces in the Crowd" from 2011. She costars with the aforementioned Julian McMahon, and, of all people, Marianne Faithful. I couldn't believe it. Not only did the main character have a problem with "face blindness" but I had it looking at Julian McMahon, with a pot belly and a pitch black wig and at the older psychologist, played by Marianne Faithful, a once drug-addicted singer with long blond hair and a face like Roseanna Arquette.

Whoa. Jovovich is Anna, an elementary school teacher who witnesses a murder and is attacked by the killer. She falls into the water but is rescued. When she wakes up, she has a case of face-blindness and can't recognize anyone. Everyone looks the same to her. This means that she cannot pick out the murderer in a line-up or in a book of suspects.

This is a real, if rare condition that apparently Brad Pitt has. I know someone who worked with him who said he is extremely friendly on the set, but doesn't seem to know people off the set. I then read that he believes he has this disorder, known as prosopagnosia and at the time of the article, he was planning to be tested for it.

Anna does not tell her live-in boyfriend Bryce (Michael Shanks) that the disorder has continued. She sees a psychologist (Faithfull) who teaches her to keep a notebook and to learn to identify people by clothing, mannerisms, etc. Meanwhile, the killer knows who she is, and she is in danger of not recognizing him if he comes after her.

I didn't mind this film, and I find the subject of prosopagnosia fascinating. It didn't have huge production values, and there was nothing really to make it stand out as a film. When Sam (McMahon), the detective involved in the investigation, takes her to the small island town where he grew up, the water looked incredibly fake.

The acting was okay. Mila Jovovich is a striking young woman and she did a pretty good job. Yes, this film could have been better, many films can. But it was a good plot.

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Wiedergaenger from Germany
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"Faces in the Crowd" is a watchable, partly enjoyable thriller/serial killer film, starring a nerdily cute and youthful-looking Milla Jovovich (who's one of my all-time crushes, I've got to admit it). Her character, Anna, gets attacked by a serial killer known as Tearjerk Jack. She survives, yet loses the ability to recognise faces -- so far a nice variant of the classic "amnesia" and "blind witness" themes. I actually had come in contact with people suffering from prosopagnosia, so when this topic emerged in the film, I became intrigued (I hadn't known the film was about, but had chosen it just due to its cast). It was also refreshing to see Ms Jovovich in the role of a vulnerable character. Don't get me wrong: I always enjoyed (and always will enjoy) seeing Milla kick arse.

Sadly, some generic and even kitschy plot elements have found their way into the script. (SPOILERS) We've got the woman who walks home (alone and at night, mind you) and of course takes a 90% rape chance short cut at the first opportunity. We've got the lone cop who protects the sole witness by driving her to his picturesque home town. And we see said hunted witness leaving a hideout because her boyfriend sent her a text message.

Furthermore, the acting is sometimes a bit on the odd side, yet not as bad as it is stated to be in some posts around here. On the upside, the main character's face blindness allows some interesting aspects and twists. The effect of the changing faces is creepy (achieved by different actors playing the same character) and can keep a viewer off balance.

So if you are looking for something in the neighbourhood of "Blink" or "Los Ojos de Julia", or if you like Milla Jovovich, give this one a try.

6.5/10 (7/10 including the Milla bonus)

The specialist Anna sees to help her cope with her disease is H. Langenkamp - a reference to Heather Langenkamp, the actress who played the would-be victim of fellow razor-blade killer Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).
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Anna checks her Facebook account where her birthday is shown as Jan 22nd. However, on a couple of occasions, she is shown to be checking her newspaper horoscope under the 'Taurus' section. A person born on Jan 22nd is a Capricorn/Aquarius cusp.
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When Sam Kerrest speeds up to save Anna, it sounds like he is speeding up but outside the window the environment goes with the same speed as before.
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AKAs Titles:
Brazil (alternative title) - Rostos na Multidào
Brazil - Visões de um Crime
Spain - El rostro del asesino
France - Faces
Greece (DVD title) - Apoleia mnimis
Croatia - Lica u gomili
Hungary - Arcmás
Italy - Faces in the Crowd - Frammenti di un omicidio
Japan (English title) - Faces
Mexico (working title) - Rostros Robados
Poland - Twarze w tlumie
Portugal - Rostos Na Multidào
Serbia - Lica u gomili
Russia - Ðâ€ºÐ¸Ñâ€ Ð° Ð² Ñâ€šÐ¾Ð»Ð¿Ðµ
Turkey (Turkish title) - Katilin Yüzü

Release Dates:

Certifications:
Australia:MA15+ / Canada:14A (Ontario) / Canada:13+ (Québec) / Germany:16 / Italy:VM14 / Japan:PG12 / Netherlands:16 / Singapore:M18 / South Korea:18 / UK:15 / USA:R