Cast: Andre Holland, Gemma Chan, Toby Jones, Tracey Ulla an,

Written By:Stephen Cooney and Duke Johnson based on the novel memory by Donald E. West lake

Directed By: Duke Johnson

Original Score By: Richard Reed Perry

Studio: Neon

Release Year: 2025

98 minutes

Audio description Provided By:

Written By:

Narrated By:

What Is It?: A 1950’s actor is beaten and left for dead. When he wakes up, he has no idea where he is, and he’s trying to piece together the broken remains of his memory.

What Works: Definitely a divisive film, Duke Johnson takes this opportunity to try and make a film worthy of allowing him to achieve status as an auteur, not just a working director. The Actor is a hard sell, and rewards don’t come easy. The plot is intentionally confusing, with Andre Holland forced to carry the film on his shoulders. Holland has been a consistent presence in film, often getting noticed for his work, but never awarded for it. It makes sense that he is “the actor”, and he really is the chameleon who slides in and out of roles. he is “The Actor”, both in this film, and out of it.

For people who are too concerned with the amount of sequels, and overly redundant factory made films that are close to ten other films you’ve seen this year, The Actor at least gives you a quality of individuality that seems unlikely to be repeated in the same year, or anywhere near it. The film that I was reminded the most of was Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, because of some of the interactions holland has with co-star Gemma Chan. Even with that, this film is not in the same genre as Eternal Sunshine, and admittedly does fall short of that classic. But in its day, eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind caught so many fans for its ability to seemingly create a brand new spot for itself, in the middle of franchises and sequels. Freshness, even though the Actor is technically an adaptation, is a quality most films lack. The Actor pulls it off without ending up a trainwreck either.

What Doesn’t Work: Admittedly, I needed two watches on this title to get a grasp of what the hell was going on. Even as much as I respect the direction of Duke Johnson’s film, it is dancing dangerously close to incoherence at times. It gets away with that a little, due to the memory factoring in that our lead is also not really sure what is happening either. we are searching for meaning, as is Holland.

But, in a weird phenomenon of the last ten years or so, the rise of major indie distributors like A24 and Neon have left a group of cinephiles looking for films with A24 vibes, without really knowing what that means. It’s like grouping Midsomer and Marcel The Shell With Shoes On in the same non-genre, because they give off what is really just the scent of a visionary. Indies looking to launch the next Nolan, Villeneuve, or del toro. All three got started in independent film, and studios like A24 and Neon have embraced the weird, and helping to propel directors like Ari Aster and Robert Eggers up the Hollywood hierarchy. The argument here is that Neon has invested less in The Actor as a film, and more in the possibility of Duke Johnson. Andre Holland may never get called to the Oscar stage, but with mini-majors like Neon, perhaps Johnson will at the director’s chair.

The Audio description: it was a company I’d never heard of, or certainly infrequently. The audio description was fine, considering how the film presents itself with actors playing multiple roles. It’s a mind bending film that audio description can only carry just so far. If you’re really intrigued, watch it again. I needed a second watch on both Dune films, simply for how much was going on. it doesn’t mean a film is necessarily bad, sometimes they just have a lot going on.

You might Like it if: you’re one of those on a quest to only watch things that have A24 vibes, and trend on Letterboxed (even though this film has a rather mediocre average). Truth is, this isn’t for everyone. Some people will hate this.

You Might Not Like it If: you really love films with 200 million dollar budgets and franchise sequels. Also, you just might not like it. It’s weird, and it owns it.

Final Thoughts: Andre holland is The Actor, Duke Johnson is The director, and these two come together to create the cinematic equivalent of a Jackson Pollock painting. You might not get it, but some people will be blown away by it. Art is in the eye of the beholder.

Fresh: 7.7/10