Faces in the Crowd (2011)

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  TheMovieDiorama

  4 / 10

  Faces In The Crowd is overcrowded with clichés, dullness and a wasted concept. Yet another case of the old "good idea, bad execution", this psychological thriller may include some mental analysis but indefinitely lacks thrills. Come on Jovovich! You clearly have talent, but you waste it in low-budget mediocrity. After escaping a serial killer and suffering with concussion, a woman soon wakes up experiencing a rare disorder that disables face recognition. Prosopagnosia, or "face blindness" to us uneducated, essentially results in every person you once knew now becoming a total stranger. The story starts off strong, and presents the diagnosis through fearful eyes thanks to Jovovich. She is, once again, the strongest aspect to this film as she is able to express a variety of emotions whilst looking at a mirror. The method in which director Magnat illustrates "face blindness" is to frequently switch the actors, whilst retaining the voice from the original actor, so that both us and the protagonist are unaware of who the character is. I have problems with this. The voice over for the switched actors never matched their lips, and rapidly grew irritating. The original actors looked bland to begin with, so when they are switched you still have no idea which character they are. This made for a disorientating and disengaging experience, which is why there were no thrills. You are unable to guess who the serial killer is because every character is changing. I understand the story is seen through her perspective, but it does not make for a captivating film. Then we get to the doctors and police officers, who are all useless at their jobs and just plain hideous. Seriously, she is lucky to be alive and they all treat her like she isn't cooperating. Not to mention the horrifically terrible editing and visual effects for the faces. Imposing an actors face to a different body requires talent. There was none on display here. Then there's a forced romance, a convoluted ending and a consistent wave of stale acting. So aside from Jovovich and the concept, this film ironically gets lost in a crowd.

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