A woman who just three years before successfully underwent treatment for cancer goes for a weekend trip to the countryside with some friends. Deep down, she thinks that the illness may have returned.
Some films can struggle due to over complexity in plans, and The Faceless Man is one of those films. The single document seems to contain almost four chapters a strong prologue and three sub-stories. While all of them are interesting on their own, bringing them all together culminates in the film feeling incredibly rushed to the point that it becomes incoherent. The film is the debut feature from James Di Martino, who has made several short films before and one has the impression that he did not know how to put into effect one instead of several ideas. I could be wrong perhaps later down the line, when he gets a handle on writing feature length films, it will become easier for him to concentrate his efforts and avoid loading multiple storylines into the same project.
At least, some parts of the writing stand out. The beginning of the film, when Emily (Sophie Thurling gives a fantastic performance) confronts her father in the hospital while battling her cancer is a deeply moving moment. For me that is the best part of the film. Di Martino also features some wonderful characters, Barry the C*nt is one of my favorites he seems to have a knack for solving problems in the area that Emily and her friends frequented. Even the gangster, who comes after them, is not such a bad character either.
But when it comes to the issues with the narrative, it is almost impossible to get past any of them. The Faceless Man of the title practically has no role in the story. It/He appears unnerving, but provides nothing to the film. Emily’s friends and the locals are somewhat vexatious and the relationships between the different scenes in the film just do not seem to gel. One example would be, one character seems to murder another, then one ‘dead’ character appears alive, and well. Yes, there are drugs (perhaps that is why the gangster element is present), but even with this, there is no consequence or response to the aftermath at all.
Recalling the film, Emily, the presumed protagonist, seems to vanish from the narrative for some time when the violent, brutal novel begins. This is perfectly fine but as I mentioned previously, it lacks any sense of suspense. The violence happens in part because there is no explanation, the motivation is purely because it needs to happen. The concluding segments of the film’s events were made more interesting than the film but ended up becoming a mere side note. There is still no tension in the film at this stage either.
In my analysis, other than Sophie Thurling’s performance, the rest are somewhat in the middle. A mix of good and bad performances. Not good but also not terrible. Personally, I believe, and I have not been deliberately unkind, that Di Martino has done a better job directing than writing (although the little touch in the post credit scene did help). I also believe he has the ability to do more impressive things in other projects.
The Faceless Man is a film I wanted to like, but I found it dull. There is no tension in the film, and the few moments of humor miss the point completely. Some Australian films have been better recently, but this one has been my least favorite.
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