FACES IN THE CROWD

After a night out with friends, Anna Marchant comes across a man killing a woman in an alley. In a panic, Anna flees, pursued by the killer, but she loses her balance and falls into the water, hitting her head. Upon waking up after a week in a coma, Anna can no longer recognize people's faces, not even those of her loved ones. The woman, in fact, has been struck by prosopagnosia, a rare perceptual disorder that prevents her from fixing the facial features of others in her memory. For Anna, the situation is difficult to manage and, as if that weren't enough, she is now the only person to have seen the face of Jack the Tear-Ripper, the terrible serial killer who has been terrorizing the city for several months. But how can she recognize him? Anyone around her could be the killer. The serial killer thriller is a genre now saturated, explored in every aspect, offered in every variation until nausea, especially since Hollywood appropriated it following the box office successes of the 1990s with "The Silence of the Lambs" and "Seven". It is no coincidence that in recent times we have noticed a certain relaxation on the part of American productions in this sector, a realization that makes them veer elsewhere. Yet from time to time someone tries and among an "Identities Violated", a "The Horsemen" and a "Identikit of a Crime", just to name a few titles, something comes out, mostly with mediocre results. The fixed point of so much mediocrity that is slowly making the genre extinct is the lack of innovation in the stories, all characterized by a repetitive mechanics that seeks to hide behind the use of slightly declining stars as protagonists of the events. The French Julien Magnat, who in 2002 directed that pulp-fantasy nonsense "Bloody Mallory", insists on the genre and with "Faces in the Crowd - Fragments of a Murder" manages to overcome the most insidious obstacle, namely the lack of originality. Magnat, who in addition to directing the film also writes it, starts from a simple but fascinating idea: what would you do if you were the only person able to stop a serial killer but you are no longer able to recognize him? To this typically thriller idea is added the greatest novelty, which lies in the perceptual disorder that afflicts the protagonist, prosopagnosia, which prevents her from focusing on people's faces at intervals. Therefore, the drama of the killer and his relative danger for the protagonist is joined by the irreparable uncertainty that surrounds her at every moment, with the awareness that this condition cannot be cured. In a very realistic way, Anna does not manage to resign herself and every attempt of hers to live with the anomalous situation is subjected to the real difficulties that surround her. "Faces in the Crowd" focuses much more on the difficulties of the protagonist caused by prosopagnosia rather than on the thriller plot and this is a good thing because it manages to highlight the true new idea that underlies the work. Also because, let's be honest, the story of the killer that the press has baptized Jack the Tear-Ripper (since the tears of the aggressor are always found on the bodies of the victims) is not very interesting and with a little attention the identity of the killer can be identified well in advance of the script's intentions. Instead, "Faces in the Crowd" is aware of its limits and its strong points and has fun playing with the viewer with a multitude of faces that continuously alternate among various characters. It's almost annoying but absolutely fascinating to see Anna's man with at least twenty different faces and in the same way her friends, the psychologist who treats her and every person around her. Anna's confusion is transmitted to the viewer, who is immediately made a participant in the story. Very good also the performance of the actors, starting with Milla Jovovich finally in a role that is not that of an action-girl. Julian McMahon of "Nip/Tuck" and "The Fantastic Four" also convinces, here overweighted in the role of the detective who follows the case of Jack the Tear-Ripper. In short, despite some facile conclusion, "Faces in the Crowd" stands out for its originality and ability to engage, resulting in one of the best serial killer-themed thrillers seen in recent years.