Flawed Elements

Rating: Null/10 (25 May 2003)

While Identity is a very fun film, competently directed, and boasts an AWESOME cast of both stars and unknowns, there were three elements which did not work for me, personally. The first of these was the photography. So many times, in so many shots, I wanted to see more - more of the frame, more of Clea DuVall's lovely face, more of the rain, the motel, the diner. Especially, more of the geography of the place. It would have been so much more terrifying to actually KNOW where the Ancient Indian Burial Ground was, in relation to everything else.
The second time I was painfully jarred out of the story was when Pruitt Taylor Vince (whom I last saw in Simone), during the midnight hearing, suddenly becomes John Cusack (whom the female demographic NEVER tires of seeing in anything, Serendipidy notwithstanding, and whom I will always remember first seeing in The Sure Thing). It would have been a visually better choice to have him look in the mirror, and see John Cusack looking back, since the hearing scene takes place in the here-and-now, and all present only see P.T. Vince.
My final fault with Identity is in the treatment of the child, Timothy York, who is, sadly, not credited on imdb at all. When he makes his reappearance, I cannot help but feel cheated. A short scene, somehow differentiating his previous disposal from Clea DuVall's, would have been most welcome.
A very little bit about the performances: Amanda Peet is her usual terrific self, Alfred Molina has still not given up the Diego Rivera accent, John Hawkes achieves quite a bit of scene-stealing in his, most memorable, portrayal of the impostor motel manager, and it is SO nice to see Rebecca DeMornay (so vastly underrated in Hand That Rocks the Cradle), replete with huge boobs and cute boots, stomping around in search of a cel phone signal.
Thank you for reading. Enjoy the show!