In short: Identity (2003)

Ten people (among them characters played by John Cusack, Amanda Peet, Ray Liotta, John Hawkes and Clea DuVall) find themselves stranded in a small Nevada motel during a rainstorm that makes the roads leading in and out impassable. Which would be trouble enough, but there’s also the fact that one of them is a killer who begins murdering their way through the group, leaving behind a numbered motel key with each victim counting down from ten..

There are increasing hints that something more and stranger is going on than a less cosy update of the classic murder mystery formula.

That something turns out to be at once perfectly ridiculous and perfectly awesome, so much so, I don’t really feel the need to spoil James Mangold’s movie to anyone who hasn’t seen it after twenty years. So let’s just say the film has some rather peculiar ideas about how certain mental illnesses and their treatment work, but these are the kind of peculiar ideas that make for a fine, twist-heavy thriller.

Michael Cooney’s script is wonderful, pacing out small reveals and clues in perfect rhythm while playing around with the kind of traditional murder mystery structure that typically becomes just that decisive bit more interesting when a film begins having a bit of fun with its clichés and its normal structure. The final reveal makes it possible that not everything that’s going on needs to make a hundred percent real world sense, which does add further opportunities for structural and formal playfulness.

Mangold’s direction is slick and state of the art of 2003, but unlike other contemporary directors working on this technical level at the time (see the insufferable films of Tony Scott), he is able to use the gloss to create a specific and particular mood – in this case, a glossy yet also miserable and dark all-pervading wetness, the feel of safety always on the brink of breaking down, which feeds excellently into the mood and tone of what’s going on on the surface, as well as below.

Identity is a fine piece of work all around, technically accomplished, clever if a bit silly, tense and fun, with a great cast, and not a single boring moment in it.