This psychological drama is an almost enjoyable flick. It has fine acting by the whole cast and a great majority of them play
multiple characters and their characterization is so good and well-hidden that you'll only find out it's the same actor/actress when the end
credits show their faces and each character they played. But that kind of trick was used countless times before and in better films ("Angels
in America", "Cloud Atlas", for example). But the problem with "The Actor" is a lack of direction, a sense of what's trying to convey and
what audiences can get from the story of a stage actor (André Holland) who loses his memory after being attacked and his attempts of trying
to remember his past life and return to it.
The story isn't enigmatic or thrilling enough to give us a mystery worth seeing or worth discovering if this guy was a good man or if
he had skeletons in the closet; and truth be told we never find out why he end up in Ohio, in a hotel room with a married woman. We are thrown
into the situation and even when the actor recovers some of his memory we still don't have a clue on why he was there in the first place. But
besides that, I never saw a higher purpose as to why he wants to go back to his previous life, especially when he moved to a smalltown, got
himself a job and found a love (Gemma Chan), that woman gives him the bright idea of reinventing himself and becoming someone new, start over
a different life. All I kept wondering was why he didn't do that. His obsession for the past was pointless and it brought back memories of a
similar themed film that a million times better than this one.
An almost forgotten film Jim Carrey did in the early 2000's directed by Frank Darabont, "The Majestic" tells the story of a Hollywood
persona who lost his memory after an accident, he end up in a smalltown and everybody there thought he was a WWII veteran who was thought to
be killed in Europe. He got himself a father who loved him, a pretty girlfriend who missed him, many friends and life seemed perfect as he went
along and thought of himself as being the town's favorite son. Obviously that his past will caught up with him and we discover who he was. That
was a magic movie that sadly went into obscurity, but a very beautiful film with a sense of mystery.
"The Actor", however, decided to go into a mysterious route that simply fails to appeal and convince. Halfway through it becomes a tiring
picture with almost nothing to offer. Duke Johnson adds to the mix a cheap gimmick of transforming sequences of interior scenes morph into
exterior scenes as if being shown without cuts, turning the background into black spaces and barely using scenarios, and it didn't look good
most of the time. The cast is good, especially Joe Cole as Nicky the actor's best friend, and the appearances of Toby Jones, Simon McBurney
and Tracey Ullman are quite effective as well. If only they had a script worthy of their talents. It's not a total loss, but on the other hand
you can go without. 5/10.
