ACTOR, THE
(director/writer: Duke Johnson; screenwriter: Stephen Cooney, book “Memory” by Donald E. Westlake; cinematographer: Joe Passarelli; editor: Garret Elkins; music: Richard Reed Parry; cast: Andre Holland (Paul Cole), Gemma Chari (Edna), Asim Chaudhry (Unnamed actor), Tracy Ullman (Mrs. Malloy), Toby Jones (Nicky, Private Detective), May Calamawy (Rita), Fabian Frankel (Benny), Simon McBurney (Doctor), Jonathan King (Mr.Wison); Runtime: 98; MPAA Rating: R; producers: Ken Kao, Abigail Spencer, Duke Johnson; Neon; 2025)
“Surreal thriller that relates identity to memory.”
Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz
Duke Johnson (“Anomalisa”, co-directed with Charlie Kaufman) is the solo writer/director of this surreal thriller, that relates identity to memory. It’s based on the 1963 book “Memory” by Donald E. Westlake, that was published posthumously in 2010, and is co-written by Stephen Cooney. It was filmed in a warehouse in Budapest.
In the 1950s Paul Cole (Andre Holland) is a NYC traveling theater actor who gets hit over the head with a chair in the small town of Jeffords, Ohio, by an angry husband (Jonathan King) who finds him with his wife in bed. This incident causes amnesia for Paul.
When the sheriff (Toby Jones) learns of the incident he kicks Paul out of town. In another small town Paul finds a menial job at a local tannery, gets a room in a boarding house run by Mrs. Malloy (Tracy Ullman), and plans saving enough money to take a bus back to his NYC apartment (the address was found in his wallet). He meets in a diner the attractive costume designer Emma (Gemma Chan), dressed in a clown uniform, and they date. But he goes back to Manhattan alone when she breaks off the relationship over his amnesia.
Paul’s artistic Manhattan friends tell him he was a rotten guy.
It ends with him reaching no final conclusions about starting a new life or trying to connect again with his old life.
The stylish film is a weird parable that failed to connect with me, but I can’t remember why.
REVIEWED ON 3/27/2025 GRADE: B-
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