Identical

Review of Daniel Bollag's "Identical" by Stefanos Sitaras

Identical is a movie that will surprise you, on many levels. Every 10 minutes or so, there's a disturbance of some kind, an unexpected event, which thwarts all pre-existing narrative trajectory out of orbit, spiraling viewers into a realm of uncertainty and continuing fascination. It's fresh, artful, complex, dark and twisted, and yet, wholesomely entertaining. Be prepared for an intense experience, with powerhouse performances, intelligent twists and turns, a riveting sense of unease and suspense, with well-rounded character work that gives this whole psychological labyrinth a hue of truth and humanity. It is an independent film that sets example and offers encouragement to all us aspiring indie-filmmakers; no matter the circumstance, the difficulties, or the limitations, with a good enough story, a first-rate cast and a vigorous vision, it's all possible.

Writing this review is doubly beguiling for me, both as a member of the audience and a filmmaker myself. I came out of the theater completely satisfied. "Identical" takes you on a dark and complex ride of identity, betrayal, and sibling rivalry. The premise of the movie sets the tone and intricacy of the narrative by itself: two identical twin brothers fall for the same woman. But of course, it's so, so much more than that. It's a morality tale about identity, obsession, greed, redemption, and reality. Two identical twin brothers are born, and, to keep in touch with the whole mythology of it, one is good and one is evil. The film begins with a gorgeous prologue sequence that sets the film's tone, and the narrative's main conflict. Young actor Aaron Refvem is pitch-perfect in embodying both personalities, making the prologue one of the film's strongest segments. Keep this name in mind, you'll be hearing great things about this kid very very soon, I'm sure of it.

The children grow up to become adult versions of themselves. The dynamic stays the same, and the mythology of the prologue residues on the entire story. The evil brother, Mark, is a ruthless businessman whose world of deceit and corruption is on the brink of collapse, and he will fight for it till the end, exposing the most sinister sides of his personality. Richard is the good brother, who, despite his well-heartiness and benevolence, is a lost soul. He is an artist and a wanderer, a poet and a lover. Truly, no words can adequately praise John Togo's performance as both brothers. He is simply breathtaking in every single frame he's in, and thank God, he's in almost every one. Not only is he wholesomely convincing as both characters, but he goes above and beyond that. He becomes two people so seamlessly that, not for a single moment was there a doubt in my mind as to who I was watching at any given scene. It's an award-worthy tour-DOE- force performance, and Togo becomes a leading man of such cinematic proportion, that he makes the film completely irresistible, despite its psychological labyrinth and attention- demanding plot, one that will challenge you to question reality as you can't take your eyes off screen. Of course, there are many other things besides Togo that you can't take your eyes off.

Chief among them, the beautiful, elegant, and 21-st century femme-fatal Emily Foxler, who is outstanding as Shelly, Mark's secretary, who both brothers inevitably fall in love with. She is entirely lovable from the first scene she's in. In a way, she plays two characters in her own right. With Mark, she is composed, chic, elegant, and serious, all the traits of a secret-affair-secretary who knows her place. Richard, the good twin, is able to charm that facade away, which is incredibly audience-satisfying, because, through identification (no pun intended) we feel like we are flirting our way into her heart and true personality as well. And once that side of her is out in the open, we want to see it again, hence we root for that relationship to continue. She is an incredible actress, in full control of her body-language and facial expression. Watch her eyes as she performs.. Fixed and cold when she is with Mark, playful and full of life when with Richard. Shelly is funny, cute, entirely lovable, and of course, the starting point of a love triangle that propels all characters into a quandary, one which is impossible to speak of without spoiling the movie, so, if you want to know what happens next, you'll have to watch it.

I wish i could give this a minus star it's so dreadful. My dog puked just after this started so I had to clean it up but even that was more pleasurable than this movie turned out to be.

The lead guy whom I recognised but couldn't place until I read another review saying he's one of the guys from CSI Miami, was just all over the place. Sorry Jonny boy you shouldn't have moved out of your comfort zone. Did they ask you to mumble like that? What's the point if the viewer can't understand because you're trying to come off as menacing or whatever.

If this helps at least one viewer - do not, not, bother to watch this.

first of all, by claiming this movie was 'inspired by true event' is a total joke. and then, the screenplay writer(s), the director and the actor who play the twin brother role, all did unconvincing jobs, resulting this movie turned out to be a total mess. the actor who played the twin brothers got a very serious speaking problem. all the dialog he delivered sounded like his mouth got several marbles in it, there's no way to hear clearly what he said, every word, every sentence are just blurring, there's no way to quite understand what he's talking about. as to the movie itself, what a messy screenplay we got here. we did not know why the mother who bore these twins hated them so much, and why the father treated them like someone else sons. one evil and one good, but after seeing this pathetic movie, neither was good, and both were evil. then came the poor directing followed by the poorly crafted screenplay, the twin brothers were so confusing, sometimes you felt there's just one brother who got 'split personalities' problem; or there were indeed two look-alike brothers, both got mental problems, or one of them was serial killer. there were so many gray areas that confused the audience to the extreme. there were so many scenes that were totally unnecessary and purposeless. the whole movie simply turned weirder and weirder, more confusing as the movie continued. at first, there's some promising moment that this movie might be good and different from the usual movies in the similar genre, but in the end, just another ridiculous and messy crap that you carelessly ate up without knowing before it's too late. i strongly suggest that this actor who played the double images of the twin brothers go find some speaking specialist to adjust and correct his blurring speaking problem.

My brother and sister-in-law wanted to watch this movie because they like the actor. It plays like a made for TV movie. No surprise that it didn't make it into the theaters. The story was slow and confusing, and the ending was predictable. We called the ending less than half way through the movie. The previous reviewer who said the actor's speech was slurred and difficult to understand hit the nail on the head. So frustrating to sit through. We watched the whole movie despite our disappointment because we were hoping for a big payoff at the end and we were very let down.

There are too many good and even mediocre movies out there to waste your time with this one. The only bright side is that now we can make fun of the movie tomorrow...

Terrible, terrible plot. The acting is absolutely abysmal. I'm surprised that this (reluctant to even use the term "film") hasn't been thought of as a form of torture! Come to think of it, if I was given a choice between water-boarding and watching this film, I'd take water-boarding hands down! Please, if you've got anything else to do in your life aside from watching this movie (reluctant to use term again), even if you're contemplating pulling out your nails with a set of rusty pliers, that would be better time spent! My only hope is that I can spare you the pain I've endured. Now my only other regret is beginning this review as I've just found out that I have to spend more time writing a minimum of 10 lines so as to submit this "review". Still, it may be worth it if it prevents only one person from subjecting themselves to such an atrocity.