Lack of good storyline.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

I didn’t really have many expectations going into the movie (good or bad), but I actually really enjoyed it. I really liked the characters and the banter between them.

Taking a look at IMDbs Film Festival board,I spotted a plan for an IMDb fest based around a series of titles.With not having heard about the film before,I decided to take a look at the page for Faults,which I discovered featured Final Destination 3 scream queen Mary Elizabeth Winstead,which led to me getting ready to discover who is at fault.The plot:Getting in debt by self-publishing his advice book on how to pull troubled minds out of "cults", Ansel becomes increasingly uninterested in the people who attend his book tour.Lashing out at an audience member after they blame him for the death of a teenage girl who appeared on his now-cancelled TV show,Ansel tells the crowd to pay him some cash so that he can sign their books and then leave.Walking on tiptoes up to him, Evelyn and Paul ask Ansel if he can help them to get back their "baby girl" Claire,who has gone and joined a cult.Initially dismissive of their requests,Ansel finds the couples willingness to cover his costs to be a real charm bracelet.Suspecting from the details they give that Claire is at the deep end with the cult,Roth tells Evelyn and Paul that the only option left for them is to kidnap Claire and take her to a remote location,where she can be de-programmed. Receiving the thumbs up from the parents,Ansel goes and kidnaps Claire. Placing Claire in a secure isolated location,Ansel begins the intense de-programing program,but soon begins to fear that Claire may not be the one who is getting de-programmed.View on the film:Filmed in just 18 days,writer/director Riley Stearns shows no faults in his excellent debut,which mixes jet-black Comedy with nerve- shredding indie chills. Largely taking place in one hotel room, Stearns & cinematographer Michael Ragen precisely use depth of field to subtly reveal the change in power from Ansel to Claire (and her family.)Allowing Ansel to step out into the sun, Stearns covers him in a scorching hot sun,which pops the heated tension that Ansel is under.For the dark satirical shots,the screenplay by Stearns takes a ruthless view at the self-help/psychobabble culture,as Ansel's crisp white shirt and user-friendly guides hide the deep bleaches behind a fading grin.Keeping away from just making this a satirical title,Stearns displays an expert eye in delivering psychological unease,thanks to the decision to stick everyone in one location allowing for the seeds of doubt in Ansel to be exposed,whilst Claire's shimmering confidence slowly casts a looming shadow across the screen.Stuck in a burnt at the edges suit, Leland Orser gives a superb performance as Ansel,thanks to Orser giving every sarcastic put-down a rich bitterness,whilst also allowing a feeling of Ansel crumbling under pressure to seep in.Joined by a great Lance Reddick, Mary Elizabeth Winstead gives an extraordinary performance as Claire.Avoiding any Scream Queen antics,Winstead hits Claire with an icy matter of fact delivery,thanks to Claire burning away her sweet charms to reveal a smart,calculating menace hidden from view.Final view on the film:A film with no "Faults" at all.

So far, "Fault" has all positive reviews on IMDb. I cannot imagine this will continue now that it's just debuted on Netflix's streaming service here in the States. I found the film disturbing and unpleasant.When the movie starts, it's a comedy. A complete loser named Ansel (Leland Orser) is doing crappy workshops where he talks about cults and cult deprogramming. He's darkly funny to watch and I enjoyed the film...so far.The plot then thickens. A set of parents inexplicably recruit this idiot to deprogram their daughter who's been caught up in a cult called "Fault". He and some recruits kidnap her and take her to a motel room....and the comedy completely vanishes. The film becomes confusing here, as you really have no idea where it's going. Ultimately, the film becomes VERY dark and nasty...and I was left feeling like two separate films had been spliced together. And, as a result I also felt cheated. A funny dark comedy just became dark and nasty...and unfun to say the least.

The premise here was certainly interesting, and the performances were fine, and the mood good, yet why wasn't it better? The film seems to aim at really deep and complex questions, and while on the surface it seems to work, it also has a problem trying to find a balance in the comedic and more atmospheric tone. One of the two main characters seems to be part of the problem from the start, so even then we know it will be quite difficult to overcome the flaws. Mary Elizabeth Winstead is very good here, really gripping on to her character in surprising, unexpected ways, even if she can't really elevate the film that much more. Not a bad film with a lot of decent stuff, but not very great either

I don't know why, but the cults are becoming a fashionable trend in contemporary cinema. In the last 5 years, we have been watching films such as Martha Marcy May Marlene, Red State, Sound of My Voice and The Sacrament, whose focuses vary considerably, but they all examine the disturbing phenomenon of brainwashing, and the apparent ease with which some people let themselves be dominated by charismatic leaders who promise some kind of spiritual salvation when, in fact, they only seek their own benefit. The film Faults presents a very interesting perspective, moving away from the "commune" and the specific details of the cult, in order to focus into the regenerative process of lost identity. And, if that were not enough, it also makes character studies about the victim and the analyst, gradually revealing their particular psychologies and the internal travel which took them to the struggle of wills which hold big part of the movie. Faults presents us a "hero" defeated by life... something like the classic alcoholic detective from various cop films, or the priest without faith who is so common in horror cinema, but even more down at heel (I point out the fact that Faults doesn't belong to either of those genres). This tortuous main character complicates the situation more, and makes a Faults a subtle and fascinating thriller, in which not only the victim's future is in danger, but also her redeemer's. The screenplay of Faults shines because of its precision and sagacity, keeping us in suspense during the whole film, until leading to a satisfactory ending. And then, we have the excellent performances, starting by Leland Orser as the main character. Orser is one of those actors whose names we don't know, even though we immediately recognize their faces when we see them in a film or TV series. I revised his filmography, and I confirmed the fact I had seen him in many movies, without specifically remembering him in any of them. Faults will undoubtedly rectify that situation, and I estimate that his extraordinary work as a "loser" seeking redemption will get him out of that limbo of character actors who always make their mission but go unnoticed. Mary Elizabeth Winstead also brings a perfect performance as the victim of the cult; she's modulated in her role, but she never loses spontaneity or passion. The premise of Faults might sound similar to the one of the previously mentioned Martha Marcy May Marlene, but its levels of meaning transcend the victim's mentality and offer more ambitious and interesting reflections about human condition and its virtue/fault of seeking spiritual fulfillment, even for the sake of the own identity. The screenplay of Faults might occasionally make a few small traps, but that didn't avoid me from liking it very much, and I definitely recommend it as a hypnotic and audacious thriller, specially to those ones who find the concept and existence of "cults" equally intriguing.