One Four Three

One Four Three finds itself in a barren field of quality and interest. The movie is not a masterpiece. It is also not remotely horrible. Especially for a film that deals with amnesia, this could’ve been so much worse and stupider. It’s not that. But it’s not much of anything else either. Dammingly, One Four Three is just okay.

Genevieve leaves her fiancé, Paul for an art critic named Rebecca. However, Genevieve is severely physically beaten by an unknown assailant and is placed into a coma to heal. Genevieve’s family show a complete lack of support for Rebecca during this time and Rebecca is unable to see Genevieve. When Genevieve awakens, she’s got near-total amnesia. Taking advantage of this opportunity, her parents convince Genevieve she is still a happy heterosexual dating Paul. Rebecca is not only barred from seeing the woman she loves, but fears that the secrecy and control exerted by Paul and Genevieve’s parents mean that Genevieve is still at risk.

I respect the attempt to do a modern film about amnesia that tries to make it accurate and believable instead of absurd. It does feel like the film has done some reading on amnesia instead of making the condition whatever suits their needs for drama. And even with the depiction being semi-accurate, there’s still some good scenes relating to the fact that amnesia is frankly, a great plot device. One Four Three uses amnesia for both mystery/thriller elements as well as romance. Rebecca and Genevieve have some great moments regarding what they remember or don’t and how a strong their connection feelings are regardless.

However, accuracy doesn’t always lead to the most exciting movie. One Four Three’s overall plot structure feels over-familiar. Admittedly, there’s only so many places you can go with the amnesia story. But One Four Three is never exactly a standout in regards to any element of a fictional amnesia plot. It becomes incredibly clear early on what path and structure the movie will follow. The only real question is whodunnit?

The antagonists in the film are a major downside. They’re almost comically awful without depth, nuance or subtlety when such a thing would be warranted. Paul is a hilariously shit romantic partner. His role in the film is to be a guy who it’s easy to leave for a better relationship and then also be shitty enough you think maybe he did grievous bodily harm. But he’s a red herring because that would be too obvious. The actual perpetrator is powered by a level of overtly violent and hateful homophobia that lacks layers. It’s hard for this reveal to come as any sort of surprise when the person in question feels so one-note awful and doesn’t remotely hold back their more violent opinions about gay people.

Pretty much all of One Four Three falls into a place of being fine but not great. And something about that has really dammed the movie for me. One Four Three plays it very safe. But amnesia is the sort of plot device that I’m much more interested in seeing stories where the creators really swing for the fences in some way or another.

Overall rating: 5.3/10

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