This movie is the proof that the world is becoming a sick and dumb place

I have absolutely never seen anything like this movie before. You have to see this movie.

The acting in this movie is really good.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

If it weren't so well filmed on location in Greece and a couple other photogenic European locales, I would probably only be rating this film around a 5. I was expecting a thriller, but instead it's more along the lines of a series of unfortunate events, although the story does keep moving in an unpredictable direction. The trailer to this film, however, is totally misleading and sells it as something much more like "The Talented Mr. Ripley", which was a very sophisticated and skillfully plotted thriller and also totally different from this movie. I'm guessing that a lot of people will find this film to be on the slow side, but that appealed to me personally, at least on the night I happened to watch it. In any event, I thought that it was worth the time for the scenery alone.

Tonnes of folks seem to infer "Hitchcock" for this move. This movie is way too shallow for such an exaltation. To me I would be very happy if it met the farcical fun of Poirot, but even that it did not meet.What started out with a promise of good old-fashioned thriller/mystery (a la Poirot), soon gave way to a lazy insipid plot that doesn't work. Good acting by the three principals coupled with the old charms of Greece (and some of Istanbul) could not salvage this movie beyond nonsensical couldn't-be-bothered eye- candy.Too many things do not make plausible sense. Motivations, decisions and actions of the main characters are a mishmash of 'huh?'. If it could not deliver a smart thriller/mystery, then it't could have worked if it had stuck to a dramatic premise which all three key actors would have the capacity to deliver, and focused on the human strains of having to run from the law, and avoid the trite pretense of who-out-smarts-who.What a shame … could have been pretty good.

Acknowledged Screenwriter Amini's Directorial Debut is a stunning Old School Thriller that embraces its Retro Roots. A Slow Burning Suspense and Film-Noir's fatal fall from the Everyday, to the extraordinary webbed World of Crooks, Scams, and Con-Artists. Of course Money and Dames are at the Center of all of this, as it should be.It's Set in 1962 and the Tone is something of a Bygone Era without Flash and Hyperkinetic Hoopla. The Characters and Their Deceit and Desires are at the Forefront and its a Tangled Triangle of Wrong Turns and Wrong Doings.The Three Stars Shine as does the Grecian Locales and it is a Pretty Picture with the inner workings of Human Fallibilities. The Weakest Element in an otherwise Very Good Film may be the Unfulfilled Realization of the Extramarital Affair. It is sort of Off Screen and might be the Film's biggest Mystery.Overall, this is a Throwback and throws its Punches Effectively and Below the Belt. It's the Style of Filmmaking that Hitchcock is well Known and as an Homage it works beautifully. May be too Calculated and Slow going for Moderns with a Taste for Tastelessness, but that is Their Loss.

Check out my full review here: http://ericsgoodstuff.blogspot.com/2015/03/the-two-faces-of- January.htmlChanneling the great director himself, writer/director Hossein Amini delivers one of the most Hitchcockian thrillers I've seen in awhile with The Two Faces of January. Starring Aragorn (aka Viggo Mortensen), that girl from the first Spider-Man series (Kirsten Dunst), and one of the most sought-after, up-and-coming, young- actor-types of today, Oscar Issac, this film is a succinct story of trust set across Aegean Europe.Rydal (Isaac) is a young American working as a tour guide and small- time con man in Athens when he stumbles upon Chester (Mortensen) and Collette McFarland (Dunst). At the Parthenon Rydal and Chester, strangers to one another, exchange a meaningful and questioning stare. Later, Collette is curious as well and both parties seem to have something more up their sleeve. Both are curious in finding out more. The McFarlands take him on as a guide and both seem to be feeling out the other, attempting to gain the upper hand. Who's past will come out and catch up with them first?Two Faces has been compared to The Talented Mr. Ripley or Strangers on a Train and rightly so. In fact, I think it takes the strengths of each of those movies and improves on them. Mr. Ripley was overlong as the third-act chase became more desperate while Strangers lacked the visual style and dynamic use of light in Two Faces. The cinematography takes advantage of the exotic on-location setting and the accompanying music hits all the right beats, creating an aura that moves from curious intrigue to life-or-death entanglement. What's more, the ending of this film has a much more satisfying overall story arc (be sure, though, that one or more tragic events do occur along the way).If you are familiar with ancient mythology you may know of Janus, aka January, the god of transitions and change. Often depicted as a two-faced man, looking to both the future and the past, the symbolism has been used before in the '90's James Bond film Goldeneye (arguable Pierce Brosnan's best as 007). I think because of that reference I imagined the Viggo Mortensen character to be one of dual personalities, a seemingly good man that turns out to be ruinous and conniving to those around him. During the film's climax I wondered if perhaps the twist is that it's the other way around. Rydal has unmentioned history with his father that is implied to be negative. As Chester becomes a sort of twisted father figure consider how this whole affair, in the end, may serve as a reckoning for Rydal.Perhaps because it did stick so closely to genre, The Two Faces of January wasn't a critical hit and seemed to pass by unnoticed at the box office. Give it a chance when you are in the mood for something with characters that spend a lot of time in the shadows. Produced by the team of people that made the grossly underrated Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and Drive, it is worth your time.