Faults (2014)
Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, Lance Reddick
Directed by Riley Stearns
Ansel Roth (Orser) is a man who isn’t so much down on his luck as completely shit out of it – a once-reputable expert on cults and brainwashing, he’s now relegated to small-time appearances in hotel conference rooms, attempting to peddle copies of his latest self-published book to try to make amends. Stealing free meal vouchers out of the trash, as many items as he can get away with from his hotel room and sleeping in his car, he’s very much a man on the edge. When an intimidating enforcer named Mick (Reddick) shows up demanding money owed to Ansel’s ex-agent, Terry (Gries), it looks like the final straw has arrived.
Fortunately for Ansel, at this particular appearance he is visited by the parents of Claire (Winstead), who ask for his assistance in returning their daughter to them. Seems she has recently been holed up with a cult that call themselves ‘Faults’, and the caring couple believe that Ansel’s particular skills in deprogramming will be able to reverse her current brainwashed state. Initially reluctant to assist, Ansel finally relents in order to raise the money to get Terry off his back.
With the aid of two hired heavies, Ansel abducts Claire from the parking lot of a local shopping centre and keeps her captive in a motel room, wherein he can begin the process of mentally breaking her down and building back up the person she once was. But whose will is the stronger here?
Except for a few external sequences, Riley Stearns’ Faults is the type of film that would make for an engaging stage play – it carries that same character and dialogue-heavy drive found in Roman Polanski’s stage-to-screen adaptation Carnage with the majority of the narrative unfolding within the confines of a mere few rooms. It’s a thoroughly understated piece, yet all the better for it – pitch black humour ripples throughout, even as things become quite serious indeed as the story progresses to a surprising conclusion.
What undoubtedly makes Faults the success that it is, however, are the performances by leads Orser and Winstead. Both bring everything that they have to the table and dish it out with gusto. Orser in particular has given many a turn in barely-recognised supporting roles over the years (including a great performance in this year’s The Guest), and here he gets the chance to finally prove, without question, that he has the chops to carry a film as the leading man. He’s matched head-on by Winstead’s efforts as Claire, the two of them batting a constant back and forth power play that hooks from the off and keeps you fastened with curiosity and charisma. It’s like watching two masters play a mental game of chess, and you’re never sure just who is holding the upper hand at any certain point.
Pacing does slip around the mid-point and director Stearns periodically has trouble juggling the film’s tone, leaving Faults just that little bit too quirky and distancing for the audience than it perhaps should be at times. Of course, the overly talky nature most certainly won’t appeal to many, but if you have even a passing interest in understated, character-driven drama tackling darker subject matter and two of the most exceptional lead performances of the year – not to mention more genuine laughs than any recent low-brow comedy effort – then by all means, open your mind and have a listen to what Faults has to say. You might be pleasantly surprised.
4 out of 5
Categorized:News
