Anna (2013)

Mark Strong isn't bad, usually, as the baddie or the sidekick but I'm afraid that as a leading actor he isn't really very, well, strong. He is "Washington" in this thriller about a man who can plumb the depths of other people's memories and get to the bottom of their problems. This particular "memory detective" has been recovering from a personal tragedy of his own when he is summoned to a stately home to meet the sixteen year old "Anna" (Taissa Farmiga) at the behest of his boss "Sebastian" (the sparingly used Brian Cox). She's a troubled girl but what concerns her parents most is that she is refusing to eat. His job is just to chat with her, put her at her ease and convince her to have a sandwich. If only it were to be that simple, though. As the two begin to chat, he begins to suspect that there is something ghastly lurking in her sub-conscience. Is she downright malevolent or is she, perhaps, the victim of someone else's behaviour. As the story unravels, he finds himself caught in a maelstrom that tests not just his skills but his own strength of character. He struggles to differentiate between truth and fiction and not just in her mind, either. So far, the concept is quite intriguing but I'm afraid the execution isn't great. It's written as if it were a sketch, with little attention to any detail to fill out the characterisations and Strong has little in his armoury to compensate for that. The denouement is hardly a surprise and I was a bit disappointed in the whole thing. It's watchable enough, but I doubt I will remember it next week.