Anna

Anna

If “Inception” had been incepted inside the imaginary world of a disturbed pubescent girl, it might have looked something like “Anna.” It is messy like a teen’s bedroom and overstuffed with extraneous clutter that only serves to weigh down its story.

This psychological thriller follows self-proclaimed memory detective John Washington (Mark Strong, a brawny Jason Statham type but with more soul and less scowling), who can remotely access his subjects’ flashbacks and use that information to help solve their cases. He is off his game after suffering a stroke during an otherwise routine session. That’s on top of grieving for his wife, who killed herself.

After taking two years off and running out of money, he agrees to enter the mind of 16-year old Anna (Taissa Farmiga, an intimidating presence who looks like she could be her older sister Vera’s mini-me), who is both “haunted” and “gifted,” we’re told. Kept locked in an upstairs room of a sprawling mansion like Cinderella and kept under constant video surveillance, she has been on a hunger strike for a week, has cut herself and perhaps was involved in some unsavory activities at school. He is supposed to determine whether some traumatic event caused her behavior or if she’s simply a dangerous sociopath who needs to be locked up.

Of course, Anna’s family is more Addams than Brady. Her skeptical stepdad (her father died before she was born) appears to be having an affair with the housekeeper (who inexplicably wears a French maid’s outfit straight out of a Halloween store) and would gain control over Anna’s inheritance if she were committed. Meanwhile, her loving mom drowns her sorrows in booze.

During our trips through Anna’s pasts, we see potential triggers including being locked in closets and bleeding while holding dripping letter openers. But more troubling is John’s discovery, after actually doing some investigating, that a teacher had taken inappropriate pictures of her and that another student has accused her of a brutal attack.

What keeps “Anna” from being a total loss are the cool, calm and collected vibes given off by Strong and Farmiga as he delves deeper into the truth. Yes, this is a cat and mouse game, an apparent contest of wills where we’re led to believe the rodent might be in control. The two actors each boasting their own brand of magnetic screen presence make for intriguing adversaries as they push back against one another.

However, it strains credulity how much time passes before Strong’s character even thinks about questioning Anna’s motivations especially once the audience does no matter any sympathetic feelings he may have toward her as a fellow sufferer of damaged psyches. John is oddly non-suspicious for someone who’s supposed to be an ace detective of the subconscious, particularly when it starts to seem like Anna may harbor more than platonic sentiments for him.

Still worse, Jorge Dorado, the director of this Spanish movie, does not take advantage of the visual possibilities offered by its premise to create any genuinely special effects. Instead, he repeats certain symbolic themes many times over presumably as hints or perhaps red herrings which only serve to confuse. There’s water rain storms; the sea; tap water pouring out of overflowing baths and basins; showers; flooded floors.

And stairs especially Anna’s house’s massive spiral one. Splashes of red appear on lips, roses, bloodstains and Anna’s drawings. And clocks plus a metronome with nervous ticks and tocks thrown in for good measure. But even with such devices as quick cuts, shadowy figures, distorted sounds and images etc. nothing really gets under your skin.

Apart from the two leads everybody else (including most surprisingly Brian Cox as John’s boss who is usually so good) acts no better than on Lifetime Channel level. What is most annoying though is that Dorado doesn’t give us any genuine surprise or revelation when he shows us his confused jigsaw pieces.

“I’m not a sociopath,” says Anna. “Just smart enough to think like one.” If only the film was as clever as her!

Watch Anna For Free On Gomovies.