Faces in the Crowd (2011)

A horror-thriller centered on a woman living with "face-blindness" after surviving a serial killer's attack. As she lives with her condition, one in which facial features change each time she loses sight of them, the killer closes in.

Director:

Julien Magnat

Writers:

Julien Magnat (original screenplay by), Agnès Caffin (with the participation of)

Stars:

Milla Jovovich, Julian McMahon, David Atrakchi

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Milla Jovovich	...	Anna Marchant
Julian McMahon	...	Sam Kerrest
David Atrakchi	...	Lanyon / Tearjerk Jack
Michael Shanks	...	Bryce
Marianne Faithfull	...	Dr. Langenkamp
Sarah Wayne Callies	...	Francine
Valentina Vargas	...	Nina
Kate Yacula	...	Anna #2 - in hospital mirror
Apollonia Vanova	...	Anna #4 - in make-up mirror
Nels Lennarson	...	Kerrest #2
Chris Kalhoon	...	Kerrest #3
Aaron Hughes	...	Man #1 / Man #2
Aaron Grain	...	Lanyon #2
Michael James	...	Lanyon #3
Jason Wishnowski	...	Lanyon #4

Storyline

The elementary school teacher Anna Marchant lives with her boyfriend Bryce in a nice apartment and every now and then she meets her best friends Francine and Nina to drink and talk. When Anna is crossing a bridge to meet Bryce, she sees an infamous serial-killer killing a woman. Anna runs but she is attacked by the killer and she falls off the bridge and hits her head. Anna stays in coma for a week and when she awakes, she learns that she has brain damage followed by Prosopagnosia, a disorder of face perception where the ability to recognize faces is impaired, while the ability to recognize other objects may be relatively intact. The police detective Sam Kerrest unsuccessfully tries to force Anna to remember the face of the serial-killer. Now the serial-killer knows that Anna has seen his face, but she is incapable of even recognizing Bryce and her close friends.

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Plot Keywords:

hypnotism | rape | face | recognize | bridge | 

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Taglines:

She saw the killer's face, but it keeps changing...

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | Romance | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for disturbing violent content and some sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA France Canada UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 October 2011 (Turkey)

Also Known As:

Faces

Filming Locations:

Downtown, Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$10,000,000 (estimated)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Minds Eye Entertainment, Frantic Films Live Action Productions, Radar Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

103 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The specialist Anna sees to help her cope with her disease is H. Langenkamp - a reference to Heather Langenkamp, the actress who played the would-be victim of fellow razor-blade killer Freddy Krueger in A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984).

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Goofs

Anna checks her Facebook account where her birthday is shown as Jan 22nd. However, on a couple of occasions, she is shown to be checking her newspaper horoscope under the 'Taurus' section. A person born on Jan 22nd is a Capricorn/Aquarius cusp.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Anna Marchant: Just when I thought I'd lost everything, I found a face. One face, which I can always read. Love.

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Connections

References A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors (1987)

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Soundtracks

Sitting On The Bridge Of The Bay
Written by George Acogny and Philippe Saisse
Performed by Kathy Benharoush

User Reviews

THAT was Julian McMahon?

Is this how Julian McMahon really looks now, or was it just for this movie? Mila Jovovich stars in "Faces in the Crowd" from 2011. She costars with the aforementioned Julian McMahon, and, of all people, Marianne Faithful. I couldn't believe it. Not only did the main character have a problem with "face blindness" but I had it looking at Julian McMahon, with a pot belly and a pitch black wig and at the older psychologist, played by Marianne Faithful, a once drug-addicted singer with long blond hair and a face like Roseanna Arquette.

Whoa. Jovovich is Anna, an elementary school teacher who witnesses a murder and is attacked by the killer. She falls into the water but is rescued. When she wakes up, she has a case of face-blindness and can't recognize anyone. Everyone looks the same to her. This means that she cannot pick out the murderer in a line-up or in a book of suspects.

This is a real, if rare condition that apparently Brad Pitt has. I know someone who worked with him who said he is extremely friendly on the set, but doesn't seem to know people off the set. I then read that he believes he has this disorder, known as prosopagnosia and at the time of the article, he was planning to be tested for it.

Anna does not tell her live-in boyfriend Bryce (Michael Shanks) that the disorder has continued. She sees a psychologist (Faithfull) who teaches her to keep a notebook and to learn to identify people by clothing, mannerisms, etc. Meanwhile, the killer knows who she is, and she is in danger of not recognizing him if he comes after her.

I didn't mind this film, and I find the subject of prosopagnosia fascinating. It didn't have huge production values, and there was nothing really to make it stand out as a film. When Sam (McMahon), the detective involved in the investigation, takes her to the small island town where he grew up, the water looked incredibly fake.

The acting was okay. Mila Jovovich is a striking young woman and she did a pretty good job. Yes, this film could have been better, many films can. But it was a good plot.