Identity

Synopsis: Eleven people find themselves stranded in an isolated motel – one by one they begin to die.

Identity appears to be a classic whodunnit, but the ideas behind it are intriguingly innovative. The film begins by weaving together two stories. A last-minute judicial review of a killer on death row is being convened at midnight, but the prisoner hasn’t turned up. In an isolated motel, the rain is pouring down outside as a man holding the unconscious body of a woman bursts through the door.

Director James Mangold sets up the film with some visual creativity. The frame freezes on the image of the man holding the woman, before cutting back in time to the events that led to the accident. Then a moment at the accident is frozen, before cutting back again. The linkages between events that bring these people to the motel is shown to be largely a matter of chance and circumstance, yet there is an unexplained connection between them. Once they’re gathered together, the film’s style gets down to business in a down-to-earth way.

People start to die – each death marked with a numbered hotel key counting down from ‘ten’. The deaths become increasingly inexplicable, until it is obvious that this is not a standard take on films like Ten Little Indians. Agatha Christie would have killed to have thought of a killer’s identity as elusive and baffling as this one. While the deaths occur off-frame, the results are gory. The bloody deaths, the incessant rain, and the deserted and ramshackle motel and its oppressive interiors create a real tension. The characters are understandably nervous, with edgy performances by John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta and others. They’re a great bunch of disparate characters – the family, the prostitute, the actress, the ex-cop, the cop, the crim, the newly-weds, and the motel manager.

A review can’t explore the central and most interesting idea of this film without spoiling it. If you like the genre, this is definitely a novel take that you’ll either love or pick apart. Although somewhat undermined by an ultimately questionable finale, but with some interesting ideas about identity, this is not a bad way to spend the evening.

 

 

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