The Two Faces of January (2014)

Must See Movie...

Tells a fascinating and unsettling true story, and does so well, without pretending to have all the answers.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

I knew the leading actor and actress starring in this movie, to be honest this was good enough reason for me to watch, but also it had been on television a number of times, without me getting the opportunity to see it, so I finally made the effort to watch eventually. Basically set in 1962, charismatic Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) and his alluring younger wife Colette (Kirsten Dunst) are a glamorous couple from America touring Greece, they visit visit the Acropolis of Athens. While sightseeing they encounter a fellow American, young Greek-speaking Rydal (Oscar Isaac) who is working as a tour guide, scamming tourists on the side, he is impressed with Chester's wealth and sophistication and drawn to Colette's beauty. Rydal accepts the couple's invitation to dinner, but all is not as it seems with the MacFarlands, Chester hides a dark secret, he is con artist, after dinner he is confronted by a private detective, hired by victims of Chester's investment swindles. The detective pulls a gun, in a brief struggle the detective falls and hits his head, Chester finds Rydal in the corridor and demands he help him move the body, he claims the man tried to attack him and assumes he is only unconscious, but the man is dead. In the moment, Rydal agrees to help, but events take a sinister turn and he finds himself compromised and unable to get himself out, he is forced to join Chester and Colette as they go on the run. Rydal continues his infatuation for the vulnerable and responsive Colette, but this only antagonises Chester with increasing jealousy, creating more tensions and paranoia, it becomes a dangerous game of wits between the two men. They are forced to hide in the ruins of Knossos, Chester lures Rydal in and knocks him out, when he emerges, assuming Rydal is dead, Colette tells Chester that this is no way to live, fleeing from one part of the world to another, always afraid that they will be found out by the police, Chester grabs her and tries to force her to come with him, but they struggle, she loses balance, and falls to her death. Rydal comes round the next morning and finds Colette's body, he tracks down Chester, the two men realise they are now bound together by the deaths of the detective and Colette, and the acquisition of false passports, they take a ship back to Athens and go to the airport, Chester pretends to buy tickets to Frankfurt for them both, but leaves Rydal behind, with incriminating evidence. Rydal is arrested, the authorities make a deal with him, forcing him to wear a wire and demand a meeting with Chester in the Grand Bazaar, but Chester suspects his constant questioning and realising he is trying to force a confession out of him. In the end, the police shoot Chester when he attempts to flee, as he lies dying, he speaks into the wire, admitting his responsibility for the deaths of the detective and Colette, exonerating Rydal, Rydal is released, he requests for Chester to buried in Istanbul, he visits his grave and buries Colette's bracelet at the tombstone, and walks away. Also starring Daisy Bevan as Lauren, David Warshofsky as Paul Vittorio and Omiros Poulakis as Nikos. Motensen, Isaac and Dunst all give good performances, it is a simple story of a targeted couple, one being a conman, becoming embroiled with a scam artist in a cat and mouse game with the authorities, it is perhaps a little more style over substance, the costumes, period detail, use of colour and locations look fabulous, but I found myself losing a track a little sometimes, but the plot is full of worthwhile intrigue, and moments of suspense and tension work well, all in all it is reasonable thriller. Worth watching!

Directorial debut of a really good screenwriter Hossein Amini of Drive fame. Kirsten Dunst is miscast, she's just not interesting, and you never believe she's having a single thought. The central setup is really forced and obvious; whatever it takes to get a love triangle going. It worked for Patricia HIghsmith in The Talented Mr. Ripley (1995) because everything about that film was so well made, but this film based on another one of her novels is just frustrating. You find yourself saying: yes but WHY is that character doing that, he doesn't know those people. Character motivations are weak and contrived. On a scale of 10 to infuriating I'd give it a 3, or frustrating.3/10

Tonnes of folks seem to infer "Hitchcock" for this move. This movie is way too shallow for such an exaltation. To me I would be very happy if it met the farcical fun of Poirot, but even that it did not meet.What started out with a promise of good old-fashioned thriller/mystery (a la Poirot), soon gave way to a lazy insipid plot that doesn't work. Good acting by the three principals coupled with the old charms of Greece (and some of Istanbul) could not salvage this movie beyond nonsensical couldn't-be-bothered eye- candy.Too many things do not make plausible sense. Motivations, decisions and actions of the main characters are a mishmash of 'huh?'. If it could not deliver a smart thriller/mystery, then it't could have worked if it had stuck to a dramatic premise which all three key actors would have the capacity to deliver, and focused on the human strains of having to run from the law, and avoid the trite pretense of who-out-smarts-who.What a shame … could have been pretty good.

Acknowledged Screenwriter Amini's Directorial Debut is a stunning Old School Thriller that embraces its Retro Roots. A Slow Burning Suspense and Film-Noir's fatal fall from the Everyday, to the extraordinary webbed World of Crooks, Scams, and Con-Artists. Of course Money and Dames are at the Center of all of this, as it should be.It's Set in 1962 and the Tone is something of a Bygone Era without Flash and Hyperkinetic Hoopla. The Characters and Their Deceit and Desires are at the Forefront and its a Tangled Triangle of Wrong Turns and Wrong Doings.The Three Stars Shine as does the Grecian Locales and it is a Pretty Picture with the inner workings of Human Fallibilities. The Weakest Element in an otherwise Very Good Film may be the Unfulfilled Realization of the Extramarital Affair. It is sort of Off Screen and might be the Film's biggest Mystery.Overall, this is a Throwback and throws its Punches Effectively and Below the Belt. It's the Style of Filmmaking that Hitchcock is well Known and as an Homage it works beautifully. May be too Calculated and Slow going for Moderns with a Taste for Tastelessness, but that is Their Loss.