The Two Faces of January (2014)
Thriller
From the author of The Talented Mr. Ripley and the producers of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy comes a stylish and breathtaking thriller following the charismatic Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) and his alluring wife Colette (Kirsten Dunst) as they
befriend a young guide (Oscar Isaac) during a European trip. Their friendship quickly takes a dangerous turn when it morphs into a love triangle rife with envy, obsession, and murder.
Storyline: 1962. A glamorous American couple, the charismatic Chester MacFarland (Mortensen) and his alluring younger wife Colette (Dunst), arrive in Athens by boat via the Corinth Canal. While sightseeing at the Acropolis they
encounter Rydal (Isaac), a young, Greek-speaking American who is working as a tour guide, scamming tourists on the side. Drawn to Colette's beauty and impressed by Chester's wealth and sophistication, Rydal gladly accepts their invitation to dinner.
However, all is not as it seems with the MacFarlands and Chester's affable exterior hides darker secrets. When Rydal visits the couple at their exclusive hotel, Chester presses him to help move the body of a seemingly unconscious man who he claims
attacked him. In the moment, Rydal agrees but as events take a more sinister turn he finds himself compromised and unable to pull himself free. His increasing infatuation with the vulnerable and responsive Colette gives rise to Chester's jealousy and
paranoia, leading to a tense and ... Written by Production
Reviewer's Note: Reviewed by Michael Reuben, January 14, 2015 -- The Two Faces of January is a lesser known work by novelist Patricia Highsmith, author of The Talented Mr. Ripley and Strangers on a Train. The
title refers to the Roman god Janus, who is the god of beginnings and transitions and for whom the first month of the year was long thought to be named. Janus is typically depicted with two faces looking in opposite directions; his image will be familiar
to fans of the Criterion Collection, because many of those classics are part of the Janus Films series. In The Two Faces of January ("TTFOJ"), however, each of the main characters is pretending to be someone they're not, and their "second"
face doesn't emerge until later.
TTFOJ is the directorial debut of screenwriter Hossein Amini, whose works include Drive, Snow White and the Huntsman and The Wings of the Dove . Amini has said that this was his only script that he wanted to direct himself,
because he felt such a personal connection to the material. "Highsmith has an uncanny ability to shine a light on the parts of ourselves we'd rather hide, especially the indignity of human emotions and behavior", he said. "The darker side of human nature
is often explored in films but rarely the weaker side. That is what fascinated me about this book."
In 1962, a prosperous-looking American couple, Chester and Colette MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen and Kirsten Dunst) are touring Greece. We find them walking through the Parthenon in Athens, as Chester reads from a guidebook to his vivacious trophy wife. At
the same time, a young Greek-speaking American, Rydal (Oscar Isaac, Inside Llewyn Davis), is working as a tour guide, shepherding a group of young American college girls through the ancient Greek structure. As we quickly learn, Rydal is a petty
scam artist, using his knowledge of the language and local customs to skim small amounts whenever he handles a transaction for any of the tourists in his charge. It is clear from both his appearance and his manner that Rydal lives by his wits and barely
scrapes by. Glimpses of correspondence suggest that he and his family are estranged.
Something about the MacFarlands catches Rydal's eye, but it is never clear whether it's Colette's beauty or the sparkle of wealth. With the practiced eye of a businessman (or is it something else?), Chester feels himself being studied, so that it is no
surprise when he finds that his wife has engaged Rydal as their guide through the local marketplace, where he haggles for them over the price of a bracelet that has caught Colette's eye (marking up the price in translation to collect a small commission
for himself). Still, Chester enjoys the young man's company enough to invite Rydal to dine with them that evening and to bring along his date, Lauren (Daisy Bevan), one of the girls from the Parthenon tour. Chatter and pleasantries are enjoyed all around,
and when the occasion ends, the travelers go their separate ways, filled with fond vacation memories.
But the MacFarlands aren't what they seem, and later that night Chester's past comes knocking in the form of a brusque private detective named Paul Vittorio (David Warshofsky). Vittorio's visit requires Chester and Colette to exit their luxury hotel
quickly and secretly, without being able to retrieve their passports from the front desk. As luck would have it, they encounter Rydal in the process, who was coming to return the bracelet that Colette accidentally left behind in the taxi. Shocked by the
sudden transformation in his new friends' circumstances, Rydal agrees to help them. His reasons for doing so are unclear, though Chester suspects that the young man is after his wife (and secretly wonders whether Colette doesn't reciprocate the interest).
Then again, Rydal may just be doing it for the money. He knows someone who can get them new passports, and this too is a sale where he can mark up the price in translation.
Viewers accustomed to elaborate cons and twist endings will be looking for clues to a larger scam, but TTFOJ isn't that kind of film. The characters that so captured writer/director Amini's imagination in Highsmith's novel aren't Machiavellian
masters working intricate cons plotted far in advance. They are improvisers responding as best they can to events that rapidly slip from their control. The polish quickly comes off the MacFarlands as they morph from wealthy tourists to suspects on the
lam, and Rydal finds that he has graduated from minor swindles to a world of intrigue and danger whose full extent he only slowly grasps. At some moments, Rydal seems to be looking to Chester as a potential mentor—the father/son theme is explicit—but at
others, Rydal looks at Chester in horror and reproach, as he grasps the depth of the older man's ruthless determination to survive at all costs. As for Colette, who thought she'd found a safe haven with Chester, she now knows otherwise, and she simply
wants to go home.
As the action moves from Athens to Crete to Turkey, the danger increases and so does the characters' desperation. TTFOJ reaches its climax after a frenetic pursuit through Istanbul's Grand Bazaar, and the conclusion formally ties up all the loose
strands of the plot, but one does not experience the emotional satisfaction of seeing justice done. With characters such as these, it's hard to know what justice would look like. To Amini's credit, he doesn't try to provide an answer.
Rarely do I wish that a film were longer, but after watching the deleted scenes for TTFOJ, I found myself wondering whether Amini had been too aggressive in the editing room. He has said that he learned in editing the film that he could tell
"almost" the same amount of story in 90 minutes as in two hours, but TTFOJ is a character-driven thriller. The deeper we see into the three main characters, the greater the tension, and Mortensen, Dunst and Isaac all do exceptional work. Then
again, TTFOJ may be one of those films where the performances reveal new layers on subsequent viewings. Watching it again will certainly be no effort on this superior Blu-ray presentation. Highly recommended.
[CSW] -1.3- Watching it again would certainly be an effort. This film had lovely scenery and the possibility for a reek I mean real thriller. However it just didn't cut for me. There's no mystery or suspense. Somebody took a good story and took all the
starch out of it. Even with top stars I never developed any caring for any of the characters. Live or die I just didn't care. Their motivations and actions seemed obvious, predictable and just plain bad. I supposed this film was designed for the
psychologically naïve who wants to believe there is some deep meaning in shallow characters. I expected a significant plot twist, however, the movie plodded along with a seemingly never ending and boring plot line.
Netflix Streaming (HD) - No D-Box.
{[V4.5-A4.0] MPEG-4 AVC}
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