he's actually doing. However, things start to take conspirital turns and before he knows what's going on, he starts to question who he actually is. This is not helped by a strange woman who turns up...Twists and turns at every direction keep you absolutely fascinated, and at no point does anything ever seem contrived or unbelievable.It's an enthralling journey through a not-too-distant future, and with good acting all round will keep you on the edge of your seat.Highly recommended.

begins to dispense with his glasses, to walk and talk differently and even his face looks different as the movie progresses. The music is fantastic, hypnotic, sexy and appropriately driving at times. The extensive use of black and white and grey tones makes this almost a sci fi "film noir" in the tradition of many classic thrillers. I would have liked to have seen more vulnerability in Lucy Liu's portrayal, whenever she sees him in his various frazzled states, the man she loves and for whom she is performing a mission based on blind faith, some restrained vulnerability and flashes of genuine sympathy and concern would have made it a less one dimensional performance on her part. She is just no match for Northam's talents, but all in all I thoroughly enjoyed this film and would enjoying knowing about other screenplays written by the same author.

Digicorp, a large technological corporation. He meets up with a recruitment officer at the beginning who brings Sullivan on board and instructs him on what he has to do. It basically involves going to conferences of rival companies and recording them via a satellite transmission device disguised as a pen. It also means that he must take on a different persona and keep it a secret from his wife. After his first job things become strange, his habits change, his personality begins to differ and he suffers pains in his neck and headaches as well as nightmares. He encounters a beautiful woman named Rita Foster played by an intriguingly cast Lucy Liu. he takes an instant attraction to. However when he goes in his next job and sees her again she reveals herself to be an agent of some sort who reveals that his job is not quite what it seems. He finds out later on that he and the rest of the people attending the conference all work for Digicorp. The conferences are all covers to allow the company men to brainwash their spies. Sullivan, whose alternate name is Jack Thursby has been given an antidote to Digicorps drugging and while the rest of the spies at the latest conference drift off into what seems like a brain-dead day dream while the speakers drone on the speakers send all the attendants to sleep via subliminal messages. suddenly the rooms lights turn off and workers at Digicorp come in shining lights in all the occupants eyes to ensure they are not conscious and then in a fairly nightmarish situation they bring in head sets for each member which send messages into the brain and brainwash the precipitants into believing they are someone else. Digicorp are using these people as puppets and creating personalities and lives for these people while wiping their own existence. Sullivan now must pretend that he entirely believes he is now Jack Thursby. Digicorp want to steal information from their rivals Samways and they want their own puppets to do it, they now effectively control what these spies do, except for Sullivan. When Samways get a hold of Sullivan and discover he has not actually been brainwashed they decide to use him as a pawn to spy on Digicorp, make Sullivan a double agent. They know that Digicorp have sent Thursby to them to work his way into Samways and work his way up the system until he can get into a situation to download important company information that could shut the company down. Samways realises he had been planted and decide they will play along with Digicorp and allow Thursby to infiltrate their databanks but they will give Digicorp a dodgy disc that will ruin their system. The plot begins to twist and turn as both companies are using Sullivan as a pawn. He is stuck in the middle and Rita Foster is a mystery as he tries to work out why she is helping him. When a mysterious third party becomes involved, the person it is revealed that Foster works for, Sullivan must decide whether to go to this freelance agent, who could guarantee him a new life and safety or to stick with one of the companies he works for. The tension all builds to a stonking climax as it seems just about everyone wants to dispose of him once his usefulness has expires. The cast are great. Northam is superb and the subtlety in his performance is excellent. He brings a great visual aspect to his performance, his eyes tell a story and we see a great subtle change as his character changes from Sullivan to Thursby. Lucy Liu is just sexy beyond belief and her presence gives a great dynamic to the film because it seems strange casting but works because of that fact. The rest of the cast are also good.Director Natali whose previous film was the cult classic sci-fi flick Cube, has a real visual flair. He paces the film superbly as well and has given it a great look. For a low budget film it features some imaginative visual effects and although the CGI isn't great it never begins too much of a centre piece to effect the film negatively. The film really does bring feelings of The Matrix and other great sci-fi films, it is up there with them. The plot nearly becomes too convoluted at times but in truth that helps in a film like this, that is where the Cronenberg and Lynch influence is evident. The film has you constantly working out what is going on and genuinely surprises as it goes along. This is overall an obvious cult classic and I can see this being incredibly popular when it is released in the states. ****1/2

enough. The entire film is you the viewer trying to figure out the plots many twists and turns. I would have given this film 10/10, however some of the shots were pretty fake looking. I don't hold that against this film too much, but I don't think it deserves a perfect score.Lucy Liu is beautiful and mysterious as always . I think she's pretty underrated as a serious talent. Nevermind her beauty which is difficult , she really takes her roles seriously and doesn't rest on her appearance to drive her through scenes of sophisticated emotion. And she can seem cold and even lifeless if needed, as well.Jeremy Northam does really well, at first, as quite a geeky corporate rat, willing to run through any maze to prove himself. However, as he changes throughout the film, it's like night and day. I know some fans of Clive Owen, Jude Law, or other hopefuls to become the next James Bond will hate me for this, but Northam would/could/should fit that bill. He's suave and cultured. He's got a great Bond posture and voice. I think he too can be cold if the situation calls for it, and rather down-to-Earth, as well.Great film and definitely this movie-buff recommends it to be seen at least once if you like corporate espionage films.

power for himself, and sell it to the highest bidder. One actress that I cannot stand is Lucy Liu except in this movie , she plays a Femme Fatale named Rita Grant, who you have no idea is out to help or hurt him of course, you find out she is his only ally . I like he way you see Northam go from weak businessman to much stronger person even his face changes , as the Rooks Character starts to take over. To me, the most interesting part of the movie, was the final several minutes, where Rooks set things up to kill the Heads of Security at both Companies, and even created a program where he as Sullivan , is supposed to "Kill Rita Grant With Extreme Prejudice." The way the movie ends is that although the Sullivan Identity shoots her, he cannot kill her, and although Rooks still some of the characteristics of his previous life drinking fine whiskey and smoking which is what Sullivan did not do , it is the Sullivan Identity the one who loves Rita , that takes over. In fact, on a sailboat, both Rita and Rooks/Sullivan see the disk that gave that order that "Sullivan" could not carry out, because the "Power Of Love" was Greater. 9/10 stars

Rita on his first trip. Between the first and second trip, Morgan tells his wife that her father can forget Morgan's working for him. She tells him he can either apologise or leave the house, which I presume he did. His next trip is to Omaha.Rita intervenes: gives him meds to deal with his headaches, tells him not to turn on his pen. He does neither, and he still gets visions and headaches. He starts taking the meds. He's given a cryptic way of contacting Rita. She starts his education. At his next convention talk, he sees something entirely different. Her warnings save him from some very bad possibilities. What follows is an indoctrination: he is Jack Thursby, not Morgan Sullivan; he has a different wife, and his home base is with her in a different state.He makes it 'home;' there is a woman in residence who seems to know him and is warm to him, which is one huge improvement for him. Then he's off to a job interview at Sunways where his 'neurograph' shows he's lying. Sunways wants him to be a double agent against Digicorp. Their security chief lets him know that his real home is up for sale, and his wife his divorcing him. He also lets him know that Digicorp expects him to act as Jack Thursby; any sign of Morgan will result in his elimination.He finds that Rita does not work for Sunways, but for Sebastian Rooks. Jack goes to work with Sunways; his first job is to bug his new home. He finds that his new 'wife' is a Digicorp agent. He seeks a way out. Rita tells him to stay in place, so that Digicorp will think that they have established Jack within Sunways. Rita discusses a way out via Rooks.There are more surprises along the way. Will Jack ever make it out of this complicated mess? -------Scores--------Cinematography: 10/10 Very good.Sound: 10/10 No problems.Acting: 10/10 Lucy Liu, Jeremy Northam, Nigel Bennett, and David Hewlett were excellent.Screenplay: 8/10 There seemed to be too many layers of charades at times. I loved the ending, though, which seemed to make it all worth while.

Systems. Morgan is given a new identity Jack Thursby where he attends these business conferences to retrieve and relay information back to Digicorp.Morgan starts off thinking that this would be an adventure where he can re-invent himself as the man he'd like to be. When he spots a mysterious woman Rita played by Lucy Lui , he tries his luck, only to be blown off. As he sent on further conferences he starts to experience extreme headaches where masses of images explode in his mind which he doesn't comprehend. When he spots Rita again in his hotel again he follows her to the rooftop where she explains to him that all is not what it seems at the conferences he is going to.... and that's when the fun starts. Here is the beginning of the many twist and turns involved in the film.Set in monochromatic colours, where there is light there is shadow and the whole film seems to be set in a neo film noir colouring of greys and whites. There is a distinct style that the film tries to go for and mostly achieves. A world, which is not dissimilar to our own, is bought to life by the high contrast and sharp detail by cinematographer Derek Rogers giving the whole feel a cold, calculated and cool precision look.The performances by Jeremy Northam provides the main focus as we see his transformation from a bland everyday businessman into a paranoid agent who allegiances is divided and is unsure of who to trust and who to follow. By the end of the film he becomes a completely different person and is a measured piece of acting by Northam. Lucy Lui also plays the role of the femme fatale very well and isn't playing her usual spoilt brat routine which is normally very unbearable for me . All other supporting cast do a decent enough job but it's not really a film to really rave on about the acting side of things.The most impressive thing about this, is learning that the film was initial financed by family and friends on their credit cards and was only pick up later on by a major distributor and with a larger budget even then it's only $7.5 million to work on, it looks amazing. Shot in very little time, it's a puzzler that isn't too hard to work out though you will need a little concentration to follow it but to fully appreciate it, I would suggest you don't view the trailer, otherwise a lot of the key plot points maybe ruined and the surprises and twists will be foreseen. All in all it's very stylist sci-fi thriller with plenty to give the brain a workout.

surprise for me. This movie has not been released in Brazil, but the engaging and exciting story is quite complex, with many plot points, and with great screenplay, direction and performances. In the very last twist, I recalled Arnold Schwarzenegger's "Total Recall". This movie certainly deserves to be watched more than once, and I really did not like the last scene, when the independent spy disposes the disputed disc in the sea. In only know the director Vicenzo Natali from the fantastic "Cube", and this second work I see is also stunning. My vote is eight.Title Brazil : Not Available

electronic pen-gizmo.In reality, however, the speeches are merely a cover for far more nefarious activities. Morgan, along with his fellow conference attendees, is being brainwashed. The drugged water they are drinking puts them into a temporary coma, during which they are told to forget their pasts and permanently adopt their new identities. Once they are totally convinced that they are someone else, they are told to apply for jobs with rival companies, where they are able to indulge in corporate espionage without suspicion.But Digi Corp's plans are scuppered by the intervention of shady operative-for-hire Rita Foster Lucy Liu , who opens Morgan's eyes to what is really happening. She gives Morgan an antidote to the mind altering drugs so that he can resist the brainwashing techniques. She also warns him that if Digi Corp suspects that he does not fully believe he is Jack Thursby, then he will be 'eliminated'. Morgan plays along, and applies for a job at rival business Sunways.However, arriving at his new workplace, he is given a polygraph test and is immediately rumbled as a spy. Fortunately, the bosses at Sunways see this as an ideal opportunity to feed false data to Digi Corp and Morgan becomes a double agent.From hereon in, things get progressively more complicated; the plot twists and turns and poor old Morgan ends up not being able to trust anyone. In an exciting finale, all eventually becomes clear but only if you've been following events very carefully .Director Natali handles proceedings confidently and certainly has a great ability to produce a classy looking film for a relatively low budget. He manages to get some great performances from his talented cast; Jeremy Northam,in particular, is fantastic—his portrayal of the initially somewhat nervous Morgan is played to perfection.Cypher is another fascinating movie from a director who is willing to take chances and I eagerly look forward to his forthcoming projects, High Rise and Necropolis.