Before I Go to Sleep (2014)

Since it's listed as a horror and it has a very interesting cast --Nicole Kidman, Colin Firth, and Mark Strong--, I picked Before I Go to Sleep as one of the movies to watch this October (I'm doing 31 days of horror).

The film follows Christine Lucas (Nicole Kidman), a forty-year-old housewife who wakes up every day with a stranger in her bed, her husband Ben (Colin Firth), who explains to her that she had a car accident ten years earlier which resulted in a brain damage that erases her memory when she goes to sleep. One day, when Ben leaves for work, she receives a phone call from Dr. Mike Nasch (Mark Strong), a neurologist who is apparently treating her, who reminds her to record her thoughts and daily progress on a camera and instructs her to not tell her husband. Soon, she starts discovering the truth.

If that sounds familiar to you, it's not because you've already seen Before I Go to Sleep but because you've probably seen the 'main character suffering from short-term memory loss who investigates and can't trust anyone' film by antonomasia, Christopher Nolan's brilliant Memento. Unfortunately, it's not only the familiarity that makes the plot uncompelling but the way it unfolds and develops --I'm not sure who I should blame for this though, the filmmakers or the writer of the novel upon which the film is based. Anyway, it slowly takes you to the twist, a twist you've been waiting for and expecting since the beginning and it's therefore predictable, but, like I said, the story is told in such a way that it doesn't come as a shock or surprise.

The flat, unexciting plot isn't the only flaw in the script as the characters are just as terrible. They have no sort of development and the characterization is poor, to say the least. On the bright side, there are very few characters.

Despite the poor script, the three main actors do a good job. Nicole Kidman, whose botox injections made her perfect for the role as she looks dead inside, gives a convincing performance as Christine. Some facial expressions would have been appreciated though. Colin Firth isn't given much to do but he does a good job as the loving husband. Mark Strong easily steals the show with a very ambiguous performance as the doctor who is treating Christine.

Clarius Entertainment, 20th Century Fox

Unfortunately, getting emotional and believable performances from the actors is the only accomplishment of director and screenwriter Rowan Joffé. He completely failed at setting the right tone and atmosphere --the film indeed lacks tension and mystery. It doesn't work as a psychological thriller and certainly doesn't as a horror. It could work as a drama but, again, the flat, emotionless approach doesn't allow it.