Based on Patricia Highsmith's novel, The Two Faces of January may not be quite what audiences expect, if they are unfamiliar with her literary canon. It is, after all billed as a crime thriller and boasts conmen, murder and crooks on the run.
Yes, it is all that, but cast aside thoughts of rampaging villains, car chases and gunfire galore; The Two Faces of January is a sedate thriller of a bygone era.
Greece, 1962. Rich, glamorous couple Chester (Viggo Mortensen) and Colette MacFarland (Kirsten Dunst) arrive in Athens, apparently for a sightseeing holiday, where they meet Greek-speaking, American tour guide Rydal (Oscar Isaac), who supplements his income through petty scamming. Rydal is seduced by the MacFarlands' money and Colette's beauty, contriving to accompany them on an outing. However, as he wheedles his way into their lives, events take an unexpected turn when Chester's past appears at his door with a gun and Rydal is dragged into a downward spiral of desperate acts.
Written and directed by Hossein Amini, The Two Faces of January is the feature directorial debut from the scribe of Snow White and the Huntsman and 47 Ronin. It is a convincing debut that meanders along with gentle compulsion and, naturally, shares a tone with the most successful Highsmith cinematic adaptation to date, The Talented Mr. Ripley. There are no great emotional explosions, rather a constant bubbling tension that permeates the relationship of the trio and snaps their precise and controlled façades. From the outset we know this isn't going to work out smoothly. It's just a matter of who cracks first and how the consequences will play out.
Dunst gives a beautifully controlled performance as a woman both deceived and deceptive and one knows that, though she may be the victim here, she has her own hidden daggers to thrust.
Isaac, on an impressive career trajectory after last year's Inside Llewyn Davis (three features in the can and currently shooting Star Wars: Episode VII) is at once comfortable in the skin of petty criminal Rydal, whose certainty unravels as life becomes unexpectedly complicated and hurtles out of his control.
Mortensen, turns another commanding performance that is both subtle and severe as a man with secrets that may prove terminal for those involved. Variously suave and confident then panicked and desperate, his Chester has obvious demons and has committed his own fair share of crimes, but there is never really any question of disliking him. Mortensen plays Chester with genuine care, accepting of his foibles if not quite condoning them. As Mortensen continues to deliver solid, engaging performances, it is maddening that one of Hollywood's most dependable actors is not the Oscar winning A-lister he deserves to be.
The Two Faces of January is not going to excite a lot of cinema-goers and I'm guessing last night's audience was fairly typical of those it will attract: limited, select but, on the whole, contemplatively satisfied.
For more reviews from The Squiss, subscribe to my blog and like the Facebook page.
Yes, it is all that, but cast aside thoughts of rampaging villains, car chases and gunfire galore; The Two Faces of January is a sedate thriller of a bygone era.
Greece, 1962. Rich, glamorous couple Chester (Viggo Mortensen) and Colette MacFarland (Kirsten Dunst) arrive in Athens, apparently for a sightseeing holiday, where they meet Greek-speaking, American tour guide Rydal (Oscar Isaac), who supplements his income through petty scamming. Rydal is seduced by the MacFarlands' money and Colette's beauty, contriving to accompany them on an outing. However, as he wheedles his way into their lives, events take an unexpected turn when Chester's past appears at his door with a gun and Rydal is dragged into a downward spiral of desperate acts.
Written and directed by Hossein Amini, The Two Faces of January is the feature directorial debut from the scribe of Snow White and the Huntsman and 47 Ronin. It is a convincing debut that meanders along with gentle compulsion and, naturally, shares a tone with the most successful Highsmith cinematic adaptation to date, The Talented Mr. Ripley. There are no great emotional explosions, rather a constant bubbling tension that permeates the relationship of the trio and snaps their precise and controlled façades. From the outset we know this isn't going to work out smoothly. It's just a matter of who cracks first and how the consequences will play out.
Dunst gives a beautifully controlled performance as a woman both deceived and deceptive and one knows that, though she may be the victim here, she has her own hidden daggers to thrust.
Isaac, on an impressive career trajectory after last year's Inside Llewyn Davis (three features in the can and currently shooting Star Wars: Episode VII) is at once comfortable in the skin of petty criminal Rydal, whose certainty unravels as life becomes unexpectedly complicated and hurtles out of his control.
Mortensen, turns another commanding performance that is both subtle and severe as a man with secrets that may prove terminal for those involved. Variously suave and confident then panicked and desperate, his Chester has obvious demons and has committed his own fair share of crimes, but there is never really any question of disliking him. Mortensen plays Chester with genuine care, accepting of his foibles if not quite condoning them. As Mortensen continues to deliver solid, engaging performances, it is maddening that one of Hollywood's most dependable actors is not the Oscar winning A-lister he deserves to be.
The Two Faces of January is not going to excite a lot of cinema-goers and I'm guessing last night's audience was fairly typical of those it will attract: limited, select but, on the whole, contemplatively satisfied.
For more reviews from The Squiss, subscribe to my blog and like the Facebook page.