Double Feature by
BlackEye

Identity Crises

Identity

This amusing black comedy has as many identities as the lead character has personalities. Michael Cooney provides an intelligent, twisted script and James Mangold has a great time directing a stellar cast. This film pays homage to a multiplicity of other sources. Without being derivative, this film uses traditional elements of murder mysteries, psychological dysfunction and the macabre in a highly original and satisfying way.

Though the film backtracks occasionally in the first part of the film, showing us the interconnectedness of the seemingly unrelated coincidences, it does it in such a way as not to insult the intelligent viewer while providing entertaining moments in the process. Since any discussion of this complex plot would be a spoiler, I will have to dance around it to convey the essence of its soul.

Opening with a relentless, anxiety-inducing storm in the outback of Nevada, and appropriate soundtrack, even Hitch would be grabbing more kernels of his popcorn than normal. One edgy event after another brings the ensemble cast of capable characters to a Bates-like establishment where the "fates" continue to torture these destined to be united individuals.

As this is occurring, there is a parallel story that seemingly correlates to motel 'ell, but it is not what we expect at first. The waiting game plays out with some interesting turns until Pruitt Taylor Vince makes his grand entrance as a melodramatic version of Uncle Fester of Addams Family fame. From here on out, as the 10 little Indians disappear into the inky wet night, the film leaves no detail uncovered. It is as satisfying as this genre gets.

John Cusack, the reliable center of the film, provides the rock to hold onto as the rain turns everything eely slippery. He plays the "guy we can all relate to" so well, he even has the confidence to steal one of his lines and looks verbatim from The Sure Thing! Ray Liotta is his usual "anything can happen" brooding mystery man. Amanda Peet, equally the irresistible siren as the girl next door looking for redemption is an excellent choice as is John C. McGinley as the neurotic step dad. Rebecca De Mornay is fuller, bustier, and sexier (in an all too brief appearance) than in God's Little Acre. Alfred Molina, the under-rated superstar, is used to perfection as the compassionate, understanding psychiatrist. The rest of the cast is well suited to their respective roles, especially Jake Busey metaphorically playing his real life dad.

The only thing missing is the glowing eyes when Mr. Vince finds his inner child of the damned. That alone would have been worth the price of admission. The rest of the film certainly is as well. I once saw a movie that wasn't there. It wasn't there again today…

We cross the theatre lobby and international borders, leaving the man whose identity crisis emanated from having too many personalities with too many pasts to one who loses his only past, thus creating an identity problem of a completely different nature.

The Man With No Past

The protagonist wastes no time in losing his identity to street thugs in this engaging Academy nomination for Best Foreign Language film from Finland. It is slow going at first, but we not only get a view from the outskirts of town through Finnish eyes, but we get to experience what it would be like to lose our identity to the point of having to prove we exist.

Markku Peltola does a wonderful job, taking us with him on his journey of re-discovery. It's not an easy jaunt, as the Finns are a hearty bunch where individuality and self-sufficiency rule. They rarely engage strangers under normal circumstances, much less extenuating ones. There is reasonable suspicion of a person who doesn't even know his own name. He has battles with himself as well as the skeptical.

"M" starts with nothing but his battered body after Finland's universal healthcare gets him back on his feet. He makes friends with a man who thinks he's dead while lying by a lake and starts the ball rolling back to normal life. The fun is in the journey. While he meets cold resistance from some folks and bureaucratic indifference from some clerks of the state, there is enough kindness from strangers when he most needs it.

This is a simple story, simply told, but splendid none-the-less. Director Aki Kaurismaki is a master storyteller here with an appreciation of life's real values. It's a taste of Europe on a budget down the road less traveled for the adventurer in all of us. And there was not one Nokia flip phone in the entire film!

Copyright by T R Black 2003