Faults

Writer-director Riley Stearns masterfully concocts the sinister dramedy ‘Faults’ that registers with a bizarre blend of terror and off-the-cuff cheekiness. Stearns’s caustic yet cockeyed vision into the exploration of cults and mind-control methods is gloriously wacky and makes for one of the most unique psychological dramas to register with forthright nerve within recent years. The peculiar appeal found in ‘Faults’ rests on the beleaguered shoulders of the film’s desperate and dysfunctional lead protagonist Ansel Roth (played with harried brilliance by Leland Orser), a one-time notable authority on cult activities. However, in the aftermath of some success comes the lean times when this so-called shifty deprogramming expert, now in the dumps financially and otherwise, needs to rise to the challenge and ironically escape his own self-inflicting trance. Hence, ‘Faults’ roams into tricky territory and manages to juggle the sensitive themes of psyche imprisonment with spirited, naughty ribaldry.

Deliciously dark and twisted, ‘Faults’ resonates because of Stearns’s off-key fascination with his shady characters and the compromising predicaments that ensue. As the ringleader of the crazy-minded goings-on, Orser’s Roth is seriously flawed and this serves as the devilish foundation for Stearns’s chaotic universe of unstructured disillusionment.

The easy thing to do is automatically label ‘Faults’ Dr. Ansel Roth as a down-and-out loser with questionable ethics. Sure, his credentials are somewhat boast-worthy in that he has authored a book on the subject matter regarding his expertise in the un-brainwashing of cult victims as manipulated prey. Still, the pitiful Roth is in a precarious pickle and the only way he can redeem his dire circumstances is return to what he does best regarding his trade as a renowned psychologist. Thankfully, Roth does get that golden opportunity when an older middle-aged couple requests his services in retrieving their jeopardised daughter C...

What we're, won't be the same at the end of the level.

The film had more hidden facts than one gets in his casual viewing. If you were really focused, you would start to dig for some answers. The opening of the film was very smooth in a comedic sense. But that's not how the entire film going to be. When the story's purpose begins to roll, with an unexpected event the narration moves to a single location for almost the rest of the film with the limited cast. So it is where our guessing game commence.

I must agree the writing was a bit cleverer than I projected. The film characters were not so complicated, but towards the end it looked like unavoidably becomes that way. At first, it promises to be a good entertainer and then turns to be smarter with the story development, but in a low key. The film does not say anything about its timeline, but seems it was in the 70s that inspired by the real deprogramming.

I did not get the last 10-15 minutes of the film, but you know by guessing and visiting various film discussion forums on the net about what others thought about it gave more perspectives. But we still won't reach anywhere near what the writer intended to tell all of us. Compared to the opening, the end was totally a different contrast. In fact feels turned to be another genre and theme. So you would end watching it with the possibilities of like this and that. That means not all the viewers end up happy for what they just saw. Definitely it is for a certain kind of people, including for those has no intention of any expectations from the film.

6/10