Unknown

Director: Simon Brand

Using the traditional noir kidnap-for-ransom plot as a jumping off point, screenwriter Matthew Waynee crafted an ingeniously clever and deceptively simple paranoid neo-noir that plays like a hybrid of Reservoir Dogs and The Twilight Zone. First time feature filmmaker, the music video veteran Simon Brand, helms this moody flashback-heavy indie (produced in part by The Weinstein Company and IFC) about five men who wake up in a deserted, secured wharehouse with no memory of who they are or how they came to be there. Most of the men are battered looking—one is shot, one has sustained a broken nose, one is handcuffed and another is tied to a chair, leading the characters (along with the viewers) to quickly realize that all were involved in some sort of crime. For the course of this terse eighty-five minute film, (which is roughly how long the sheer intensity of the situation and our suspension of disbelief will allow it to last without bordering on disaster), the men try to decipher just what exactly is going on and more importantly who they can trust to get themselves out of their current situation. While two of the twists aren’t terribly surprising for those well-versed in crime cinema and there are a few minor plot contrivances such as the over usage of a mirror as a literal truth-telling device as a few characters begin to remember the past in its presence, the rest of the film is a wonderfully constructed puzzle made all the more impressive by its extraordinary cast including Greg Kinnear, Jim Caviezel, Joe Pantoliano, Barry Pepper, and Jeremy Sisto. Mystery fans will love it!