From director
@simonjtate , writer
@jamiemollart and
@blackout_films comes
@theunlock23 starring
@tinabarnesactor @ciarandowjones and
@officialfabsantino . Here's my thoughts:
This is a tense atmospheric thriller about two people trying to unlock the memories of a man with amnesia. The information they need will help prevent a war, and stop the world from plunging into chaos.
I was really unsure what to expect from this as I knew very little about it before starting to watch it. I knew it was on Amazon Prime and that it wasn't necessarily the biggest film going. That combination, of Amazon and smaller films, does not usually bode well. This time however things turned out differently. This is a good film.
Simon Tate, the director, has made a tense spy(ish) film that has genuine amounts of threat and menace, as well as decently believable characters. The choice to film it primarily in one small space, with some shots external to that space, really helped add to the claustrophobic nature of the story. The countdown to the end point added to the levels of tension.
The whole cast did really well, but the 3 main stars were genuinely quite superb. Tina Barnes, as Maxine, and Fabrizio Santino, as Jay, are the two 'specialists' trying to retrieve the memories. Bouncing off each other as part of the Good Cop/Bad Cop trope they seemed to work really well together.
However, for me, the stand out of this movie is Ciaran as the amnesiac Stephen. He barely says anything, but the way he gets everything across with his non-verbal cues, and his facial expressions is really quite impressive. His was a performance of a man trapped in a seemingly impossible situation with, as far as he knew, no way out. At every point he made this feel incredibly realistic and was an empathetic character, allowing you to understand what he is going through as much as he could.
Overall? This is a solid film that is well worth a watch and could, perhaps, find its way into a regular rotation when I'm looking for something to watch. It's getting a 3.5/5, and a recommendation to check it out for yourself. #amnesia #lithuania #russia #war #thriller #tense #claustrophobic
