THE PLOT THUS FAR
Five years after the death of her beloved husband Garrett (Ed Harris), Nikki (Annette Bening) meets Tom, a man who seems to be Garrett’s exact duplicate. Not only does Tom possess the same physical characteristics, but he also shares Garrett’s kindness, humor, and passion for art. And yet he is a stranger. As romance blossoms between Nikki and Tom, she finds she can’t bring herself to tell him the truth about what drew her to him. But as their relationship progresses, it becomes not a question of if the truth will come out, but when. Director Arie Posin’s (The Chumscrubber) THE FACE OF LOVE is an emotionally thorny drama about how we cope with loss, live in the moment and ultimately move forward.
WHAT WE THOUGHT
“The Face of Love” is about older people trying to move on, but how certain aspects of life won’t let them make that final step. Annette Bening gets to do the un-Hollywood thing by playing up the worse aspects of this arrangement. She frequently calls her new love by her deceased husband’s name. She hides the guy from her friends and family. All the while, they keep growing more secluded to the point that it begins to unnerve her new lover. The level of hope and despair onscreen is pretty novel.
Director Arie Posin’s The Chumscrubber didn’t exactly win me over, but I see a level of growth in this follow-up feature. Supposedly, Posin got the idea for the film after his mother saw someone that looked exactly like her dead husband. Playing up the weird psycho sexual attraction angle of that encounter seems odd for Posin. But, I’m glad that he was able to follow that line of thought all the way out. He has created a truly interesting twist on the standard romance.
The DVD comes with commentary, deleted scenes, a trailer and a featurette as the special features. The A/V Quality is pretty sharp for an indie romantic drama. That being said, I wish that the Dolby 5.1 track was a little stronger in the front channels. It wasn’t terrible, but it did take me out of the moment a few times. In the end, I’d recommend a purchase to those that enjoy Williams, Harris and Bening.
RELEASE DATE: 07/15/2014