The Two Faces of January
Description
Screenwriter Hossein Amini (The Wings of the Dove, Drive) makes a stylish directing debut with this sleek thriller, an involving adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith novel filmed on location in Greece and Turkey. Intrigue begins at the Parthenon when wealthy American tourists Chester MacFarland (Viggo Mortensen) and his young bride Collette (Kirsten Dunst) meet American expat Rydal (Oscar Isaac), a scammer who uses his job as a tour guide for cover. Instead of becoming his latest marks, the two befriend him, but an incident at the couple’s hotel puts all three in danger and creates a precarious interdependence between them. Amini evokes the glamor of The Two Faces of January’s 1962 setting through Marcel Zyskind’s lush cinematography, Alberto Iglesias’s atmospheric score and the Kennedy-era chic of Steven Noble’s costume designs. That aesthetic sensibility is put in service of a clever screenplay that blends suspense with the thrill of sexual tension as Chester and Rydal vie for Collette’s attention. The Two Faces of January recalls other Highsmith adaptations, notably Strangers on a Train and The Talented Mr. Ripley, in its elegance and complexity. It is an exemplary addition to the Highsmith film oeuvre, given a further lift by the stellar performances of its three alluring leads.
Biographies
Hossein Amini received a BAFTA TV award nomination for Best Single Drama for his television writing debut The Dying of the Light (1992) before making his feature screenwriting debut with Michael Winterbottom’s Jude (1996). His other screenplays include The Wings of the Dove (1997), which garnered Oscar and BAFTA nominations for best adapted screenplay; The Four Feathers (2002); Killshot (2008); Drive (2011); Snow White and the Huntsman (2012); 47 Ronin (2013); and Our Kind of Traitor (2014). The Two Faces of January, which he also wrote, is his directing debut.