''Anon'' is a 2018 British-American
science fiction
Science fiction (sometimes shortened to Sci-Fi or SF) is a genre of speculative fiction which typically deals with imaginative and futuristic concepts such as advanced science and technology, space exploration, time travel, parallel uni ...
thriller film
Thriller film, also known as suspense film or suspense thriller, is a broad film genre that evokes excitement and suspense in the audience. The suspense element found in most films' plots is particularly exploited by the filmmaker in this genre ...
written and directed by
Andrew Niccol
Andrew Niccol (born 10 June 1964) is a New Zealand screenwriter, producer, and director. He wrote and directed '' Gattaca'' (1997), ''Simone'' (2002), ''Lord of War'' (2005), ''In Time'' (2011), '' The Host'' (2013), and ''Good Kill'' (2014). H ...
, and financed by
Sky Cinema Original Films. The film stars
Clive Owen and
Amanda Seyfried
Amanda Michelle Seyfried ( ; born December 3, 1985) is an American actress. Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, she began modeling at age 11 and ventured into acting at 15, with recurring roles as Lucy Montgomery on the CBS soap opera ...
, with
Colm Feore
Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of G ...
,
Mark O'Brien,
Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger (born 6 June 1974) is a British actress who also holds American citizenship. She had starring roles in the short-lived sitcoms ''The Mind of the Married Man'' (2001–2002) and ''Coupling'' (2003) before landing her role as Penny W ...
,
Joe Pingue
Joe Pingue is a Canadian actor and film maker.
Early life
Pingue was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario. He attended Ridley College for both elementary and high school, and studied theatre at York University.
While attending Ridley Col ...
, and
Iddo Goldberg
Iddo Goldberg ( he, עדו גולדברג; born 5 August 1975) is an Israeli-British actor born in Israel. He is known for his roles as Ben in ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'', Freddie Thorne in ''Peaky Blinders'', Isaac Walton in '' Salem'' and ...
appearing in supporting roles. Set in a futuristic world where privacy and anonymity no longer exist, the plot follows a troubled detective (Owen) who comes across a young woman (Seyfried) who has evaded the government's transparency system. The film was released internationally as a "
Netflix Original
Netflix is an American global Internet streaming-on-demand media provider that has distributed a number of original streaming television shows, including original series, specials, miniseries, and documentaries and films. Netflix's original pro ...
" on the streaming service, from 4 May 2018, whilst in the United Kingdom and Ireland, the film was released in cinemas by
Altitude Film Distribution
Altitude Film Distribution is a British film distribution company, part of the Altitude Film Entertainment group. The parent company was launched in 2012 by Optimum Releasing founder Will Clarke. Altitude Film Entertainment is vertically int ...
and through
on-demand by
Sky Cinema
Sky Cinema is a British subscription film service owned by Sky Group (a division of Comcast). In the United Kingdom, Sky Cinema channels currently broadcast on the Sky satellite and Virgin Media cable platforms, and in addition Sky Cinema o ...
on 11 May 2018.
Plot
In the near future, humanity lives in a technologically advanced, dystopian society. The government requires that everyone receive an ocular implant that records everything they see. The implant provides an
augmented-reality heads-up display
A head-up display, or heads-up display, also known as a HUD (), is any transparent display that presents data without requiring users to look away from their usual viewpoints. The origin of the name stems from a pilot being able to view informa ...
to the user with information about anyone and anything they may see, as well as recording the user's view. Investigations into crimes amount to detectives reviewing video and assessing whether an alleged perpetrator is innocent or guilty.
Sal Friedland (
Clive Owen), a detective with the metropolitan police force, crosses paths with a young woman (
Amanda Seyfried
Amanda Michelle Seyfried ( ; born December 3, 1985) is an American actress. Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, she began modeling at age 11 and ventured into acting at 15, with recurring roles as Lucy Montgomery on the CBS soap opera ...
) who appears to trigger a glitch in his ocular implant, as no data about her is retrieved. When he reviews his own record of that day, he finds that every single frame of her has been mysteriously deleted. At work, Sal is handed several homicide cases where the victims' own visual records of their deaths are replaced with the killer's point of view, thus hiding the killer's identity. At another murder scene, Sal chases the apparent killer only to nearly be killed when they hack his implant and change what he sees in real time.
It is discovered that all the victims hired someone with the expertise to delete pieces of their visual records that were either humiliating or incriminating. The detectives determine that the unknown woman Sal encountered earlier has the ability to manipulate the system in this way, making her their primary suspect. Sal goes undercover, creating a false history as a stockbroker who engages in a brief affair with a prostitute. Using this as the pretext for her services, he makes contact with the woman - who uses the handle 'Anon' - and asks to have his encounter with the prostitute deleted. With his team on standby in the adjacent apartment, the initial plan to apprehend Anon fails when she successfully covers her tracks.
Sal and Anon develop a personal relationship which culminates in passionate lovemaking. During a second sting attempt, she discovers Sal's true identity and flees, apparently killing one of Sal’s colleagues in the process. Anon begins to harass Sal for his betrayal, tormenting him with his worst memories, deleting his memories of his dead son, and causing further hallucinations. His superiors confront him after his neighbor turns up dead with a bullet from Sal's gun in him; they reject his explanation and order him off the case.
Despite being under house arrest, Sal tracks Anon to her apartment and tells her that she is being investigated for multiple murders. She reveals that she already knows this and that she is being framed by another hacker with a similar skillset. Anon shows Sal her video record of the second sting operation, in which his colleague was killed, seeming to prove that she is innocent. After showing Sal her records, she flees again.
Believing Sal has become too personally involved, his superiors suspend him from active duty. The actual killer attempts to murder him in his apartment, revealing himself to be Cyrus (
Mark O’Brien), one of the technical experts from the police department. Cyrus has been obsessed with Anon for years; he killed anyone who had sex with her out of jealousy and erased every trace of her, even peoples' memories. During a physical altercation between Cyrus and Anon, Sal draws his weapon but realizes that Cyrus is seeing what he sees in real-time. To defeat this advantage, Sal fires blindly towards Cyrus, successfully killing him.
Anon leaves, later revealing to Sal that she is able to bypass the vast surveillance network by disseminating her records in microsecond slices throughout everyone else in the network, rendering her untraceable. When Sal asks her why she is so desperate to hide her identity, she tells him that her quest for
anonymity is not because she has something to hide, but merely because she does not want to share herself with the world.
Cast
*
Clive Owen as Sal Frieland
*
Amanda Seyfried
Amanda Michelle Seyfried ( ; born December 3, 1985) is an American actress. Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, she began modeling at age 11 and ventured into acting at 15, with recurring roles as Lucy Montgomery on the CBS soap opera ...
as The Girl/Anon
*
Colm Feore
Colm Joseph Feore (; born August 22, 1958) is a Canadian actor. A 15-year veteran of the Stratford Festival, he is known for his Gemini-winning turn as Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in the CBC miniseries '' Trudeau'' (2002), his portrayal of G ...
as Detective Charles Gattis
*
Mark O'Brien as Cyrus Frear
*
Sonya Walger
Sonya Walger (born 6 June 1974) is a British actress who also holds American citizenship. She had starring roles in the short-lived sitcoms ''The Mind of the Married Man'' (2001–2002) and ''Coupling'' (2003) before landing her role as Penny W ...
as Kristen
*
Joe Pingue
Joe Pingue is a Canadian actor and film maker.
Early life
Pingue was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario. He attended Ridley College for both elementary and high school, and studied theatre at York University.
While attending Ridley Col ...
as Lester Hagen
*
Iddo Goldberg
Iddo Goldberg ( he, עדו גולדברג; born 5 August 1975) is an Israeli-British actor born in Israel. He is known for his roles as Ben in ''Secret Diary of a Call Girl'', Freddie Thorne in ''Peaky Blinders'', Isaac Walton in '' Salem'' and ...
as Joseph Kenik
*
Sebastian Pigott as Detective Vardy
*
Conrad Coates
Conrad Coates (born July 12, 1970) is a British-born Canadian actor and teacher. He is best known for his roles as Morgan in '' The Dresden Files'' and in '' Degrassi: The Next Generation'' as Jimmy Brooks' father.
Biography
Early life
Coate ...
as Detective Fuchs
*
Mayko Nguyen
Mayko Nguyen is a Canadian actress of Vietnamese descent. She was born on April 19, 1980 in Vancouver, Canada. She has appeared in ''ReGenesis'', ''Rookie Blue'', ''Killjoys'', and '' Hudson and Rex''.
Career
Nguyen has had lead and recurring r ...
as Detective Dyer
*
Jordan Claire Robbins
Jordan Claire Robbins (born January 24, 1990) is a Bermudian-Canadian actress and model. Robbins is best known for her role as Grace in ''The Umbrella Academy'' television series.
Robbins was born and raised in Bermuda. After graduating high scho ...
as Elaine Selak
*
Rachel Roberts as Alysa Egorian
* Ethan Tavares as Salvador Jr.
* Alyson Bath as Krystal
Production
On 28 January 2016,
Clive Owen was cast in the film to play the role of a detective in a world without privacy.
On 8 March 2016,
Amanda Seyfried
Amanda Michelle Seyfried ( ; born December 3, 1985) is an American actress. Born and raised in Allentown, Pennsylvania, she began modeling at age 11 and ventured into acting at 15, with recurring roles as Lucy Montgomery on the CBS soap opera ...
came on board to star in the film, playing a woman with no digital footprint who is invisible to the police.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as a ...
on the film began in early September 2016 in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
, while other scenes were shot in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the anch ...
, with many shots being filmed at the
University of Toronto Scarborough
The University of Toronto Scarborough, also known as U of T Scarborough or UTSC, is one of the three campuses that make up the tri-campus system of the University of Toronto. Located in Scarborough, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the campus is set up ...
.
Reception
On
review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website
Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, and an average rating of . The website's critical consensus reads, "Lacking enough depth to fulfill its evident ambitions or enough excitement to work as a sci-fi action thriller, ''Anon'' lives down to its title in the most glumly predictable ways." On
Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 54 out of 100, based on 11 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".
On ''
RogerEbert.com'', Nick Allen gave the film 2.5 stars out of 4, saying that as Niccol's film lays out its sci-fi rules, "''Anon'' can be as much fun as listening to someone explain every single rule of a board game, when all you want is to just start playing." Peter Bradshaw of ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' gave the film 2 stars out of 5, saying: "The impact of the action is lost because we can't be sure of the status of what appears to be happening, and there is something a little bit boring about the conundrum." Stephen Dalton of ''
The Hollywood Reporter
''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly larg ...
'' wrote, "Niccol's paranoid anxieties about the totalitarian dangers of cyberspace feel oddly glib and dated, light on thrills or narrative logic." Blake Goble of ''
Consequence of Sound
''Consequence'' (previously ''Consequence of Sound'') is an independently owned New York-based online magazine featuring news, editorials, and reviews of music, movies, and television. In addition, the website also features the Festival Outlook ...
'' gave the film a "B" grade, saying: "While the film's final thesis is a Facebook post with typos at best (delete your accounts, and so on), Niccol is still terrific when he's breaking down rules, questioning protocol, and testing new ideas." James Dyer of ''
Empire
An empire is a "political unit" made up of several territories and peoples, "usually created by conquest, and divided between a dominant center and subordinate peripheries". The center of the empire (sometimes referred to as the metropole) ex ...
'' gave the film 3 stars out of 5, saying: "With a story that serves mainly as delivery mechanism for its message this is no ''
Truman Show">heTruman Show'' or ''
Gattaca
''Gattaca'' is a 1997 American dystopian science fiction thriller film written and directed by Andrew Niccol in his filmmaking debut. It stars Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman with Jude Law, Loren Dean, Ernest Borgnine, Gore Vidal, and Alan Arkin ap ...
'', but comfortably more coherent than ''
In Time
''In Time'' is a 2011 American science fiction action film written, directed and produced by Andrew Niccol. Amanda Seyfried and Justin Timberlake star as inhabitants of a society which uses time from one's lifespan as its primary currency, with ...
'' and buoyed by its chilling relevance."
References
External links
*
{{Andrew Niccol
2010s dystopian films
2010s science fiction thriller films
Films about mass surveillance
Films shot in New York City
Films shot in Toronto
Films directed by Andrew Niccol
Films scored by Christophe Beck
British science fiction thriller films
2010s English-language films
2010s British films