Michael Cusumano here to review the latest stylistic throwback based on the writing of Patricia Highsmith.
When people gripe “They don’t make ‘em like they used to” films like Hossein Amini’s The Two Faces of January are the kind of movie they mean. It’s adapted from the work of an acclaimed novelist whose books were the source of such beloved films as The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train. It features big stars in sumptuous foreign locales. It is made with a careful attention to detail. It doesn’t dumb things down or clutter the plot up with needless action. It is fair to say I was primed to love this movie, yet it never quite jolts to life. At some point my investment in the story passed from suspense to impatience. It never went so far as indifference, but I was pretty far from the edge of my seat. Rather, I was leaned back in my chair, head in my hand, thinking what a classy job everyone involved was doing and admiring the sumptuous visuals and thinking how this was going to end up being one of those reviews that used the word “sumptuous” a lot.
The key problem is that foreign intrigue of the Hitchcock variety requires storytelling that stays a few steps ahead of the audience, and it's easy to keep leaping ahead of January’s characters. Far too much time is spent with characters sitting in cafés, smoking, drinking, and eyeing each other suspiciously, when they should be trying to have sex with or murder one another, preferably both. [More...]
The set up is potent enought: Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst play the rich American couple Chester & Colette in Athens in 1962. They cross paths with Rydal (Oscar Isaac), an ex-pat American tour guide and small time grifter. The trio shares a pleasant time together as fellow Americans in a foreign land, even though Chester & Rydal have each other pretty well-pegged from the start. “I wouldn’t trust him to mow my lawn,” says Chester of Rydal. He should know a crook when he sees one, since he isn’t quite the upstanding man of business his respectable façade would lead one to believe. When consequences of questionable dealings back in the states follow Chester all the way to Greece, the wealthy couple is forced to turn to Rydal and his criminal connections to furnish them with an escape.
Viggo is the only one who gets to dig into this material. After a string of roles that played off his inherent decency, it’s a treat to watch him get his hands on a real bastard. Kirsten Dunst’s Colette should be the center of power struggle between the two men, but the requisite sparks never fly in either of the pairings, and she recedes into the background. Judging by this performance “seductress” is simply not in Dunst’s range, although considering Isaac also cuts a much less impressive figure here than he has in his recent films, maybe it’s the film dampening their performances, and not the other way around. Introduced as a sharp operator, Isaac’s Rydal is soon abandoned to a mostly reactive role. We sense that Isaac’s character must have something good up his sleeve to be biding his time the way he is, and we wait for the shocking twists that never quite arrive. The biggest surprise of the script may be how many of its cards are dealt face up in the first place.
What really went missing in January is some teeth in its writing. I would have forgiven all manner of lackadaisical plotting for a few killer lines. It’s not enough to mimic the mood of The Lady From Shanghai, you need the bite too. A week after seeing January I am hard pressed to remember a single line of dialogue, but I will go to my grave quoting Shanghai’s,
When I start out to make a fool of myself, there's very little can stop me.”
or
Of course, killing you is killing myself… But you know, I'm pretty tired of both of us.”
At some point during the film I made a mental note to push Lady From Shanghai to the top of my Netflix queue. Then I made a second note that the fact that I made the first note is probably a bad sign as to my level of interest in the movie in front of me. I was mentally recasting January with Orson Welles, Rita Hayworth and Everett Sloane by the time the movie managed to recapture my interest.
They don’t make ‘em like they used to, but they used to make middling films back in the Golden Age, same as today. You see the DVD’s now, sold in packaging with the star’s name printed 5X bigger than a title you don’t quite recognize. The Two Faces of January will be one of those. Grade: C+
The Two Faces of January is currently available on VOD and other digital platforms. It is released theatrically on September 26.