''Exposed'' (originally titled ''Daughter of God'') is a 2016 American

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

Gee Malik Linton Gee Malik Linton (born December 9, 1973) is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. Career Born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jamaican family, Gee Malik Linton majored in physics in college and was pursuing a master's degree until he ...

(credited as Declan Dale), in his

directorial debut This is a list of film directorial debuts in chronological order. The films and dates referred to are a director's first commercial cinematic release. Many film makers have directed works which were not commercially released, for example early work ...

. The film stars

Ana de Armas Ana Celia de Armas Caso (; born 30 April 1988) is a Cuban and Spanish actress. She began her career in Cuba and had a leading role in the romantic drama '' Una rosa de Francia'' (2006). At age 18, she moved to Madrid, Spain, and starred in t ...

Keanu Reeves Keanu Charles Reeves ( ; born September 2, 1964) is a Canadian actor. Born in Beirut and raised in Toronto, Reeves began acting in theatre productions and in television films before making his feature film debut in '' Youngblood'' (1986). ...

Christopher McDonald Christopher McDonald (born February 15, 1955) is an American film, television, theatre and voice actor. McDonald is best known for playing the villainous professional golfer Shooter McGavin in the 1996 comedy ''Happy Gilmore''. Other notable ...

Big Daddy Kane Antonio Hardy (born September 10, 1968), better known by his stage name Big Daddy Kane, is an American rapper who began his career in 1986 as a member of the Juice Crew. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential and skilled MCs in hi ...

, and

Mira Sorvino Mira Katherine Sorvino (; born September 28, 1967) is an American actress. She won the Academy Award and Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in Woody Allen's ''Mighty Aphrodite'' (1995). She also starred in the films ...

. The film was released in a

limited release __FORCETOC__ Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...

and through

video on demand Video on demand (VOD) is a media distribution system that allows users to access videos without a traditional video playback device and the constraints of a typical static broadcasting schedule. In the 20th century, broadcasting in the form of o ...

on January 22, 2016, by

Lionsgate Home Entertainment Lions Gate Entertainment Corporation, doing business as Lionsgate, is a Canadian-American entertainment company. It was formed by Frank Giustra on July 10, 1997, domiciled in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and is currently headquartered in ...

Plot

A police officer, Detective Galban, investigates the circumstances behind the death of his partner, Detective Joey Cullen. The mysterious case leads to an attempted police cover-up and a dangerous secret involving an unlikely young woman. The two parallel story lines initially appear to have little in common, but as events gradually unfold in the two separate urban worlds, the young woman, Isabel De La Cruz, appears to somehow be involved in the detective's demise. Detective Cullen was depraved and corrupted. His colleagues fear that the investigation into his death will bring these facts to light. The results would include bad press for the police department and the loss of his pension for his family. The fear is based on the fact that one of the prime suspects in the case is a young ex-convict who had allegedly been

sexual assault Sexual assault is an act in which one intentionally sexually touches another person without that person's consent, or coerces or physically forces a person to engage in a sexual act against their will. It is a form of sexual violence, which ...

ed with a broomstick wielded by Detective Cullen. Supervisors within the precinct would rather let the murderer go free than to open up a Pandora's Box of troubles for everyone concerned. Meanwhile, in Isabel's private world, Isabel befriends a young girl named Elisa. Isabel suspects that Elisa is being abused at home by her father. She also believes that the strange beings she has begun seeing on the streets are angels. Accordingly, she thinks that her mysterious "impossible" pregnancy is a gift from God, which no one else is willing to believe. Isabel returns to her parents’ home to live. When Elisa says that Isabel's father has hurt her, it triggers a sudden recollection in Isabel's mind of

molestation Sexual abuse or sex abuse, also referred to as molestation, is abusive sexual behavior by one person upon another. It is often perpetrated using force or by taking advantage of another. Molestation often refers to an instance of sexual assau ...

by her father many years ago. All of Isabel's buried memories are suddenly released in an avalanche of images. In truth, it turns out that Isabel's "angels" are a fabrication of her own mind. She created them to accompany a fictional narrative that would replace the unbearably

traumatic memories The management of traumatic memories is important when treating mental health disorders such as post traumatic stress disorder. Traumatic memories can cause life problems even to individuals who do not meet the diagnostic criteria for a mental hea ...

of being

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ag ...

d by Detective Cullen on the subway platform the night that her "visions" began. She further suppressed the memory of catching him off guard afterwards and killing him in a fit of righteous rage. In response to the memories and to Elisa's crying, Isabel kills her father in order to protect Elisa. Detective Galban is then sent to the scene of the murder. When Galban looks at an old photograph of Isabel's family it is revealed that Elisa is also a fabrication of Isabel's mind. The imaginary girl is actually Isabel as a child. In the end Elisa disappears as Isabel is in church praying for the strength to accept everything that has happened.

Cast

as Isabel de La Cruz *

as Detective Scott Galban *

as Lt. Galway *

as Black *

as Janine Cullen * Venus Ariel as Elisa * Ariel Pacheco as Naldo * Laura Gómez as Eva * Melissa Linton as Detective Sarah Ramirez *

Michael Rispoli Michael Rispoli is an American character actor. He was a contender for the role of Tony Soprano in the HBO television series ''The Sopranos,'' but was ultimately cast as Jackie Aprile, a recurring character in the show’s first season. Rispo ...

as Detective Dibronski *

Danny Hoch Daniel Hoch (born November 23, 1970) is an American actor, writer, director and performance artist. He has acted in larger roles in independent and art house movies and had a few small roles in mainstream Hollywood films, with increasing expo ...

as Detective Joey Cullen *

Ismael Cruz Córdova Ismael Enrique Cruz Córdova (born April 7, 1987) is a Puerto Rican actor who gained national attention playing Mando on ''Sesame Street''. Cruz also had a role in the Showtime original series ''Ray Donovan'', and in the third season of ''Berlin ...

as Jose de La Cruz * Monte Greene as Anthony Galban (VO) * Jeanette Dilone as Marisol de La Cruz

Production

Development

On September 6, 2014, it was announced that Keanu Reeves and Ana de Armas would star together in the movie ''Daughter of God'', after the identical news of April 4 for

Eli Roth Eli Raphael Roth (born April 18, 1972) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, and actor. As a director and producer, he is most closely associated with the horror genre, having directed the films '' Cabin Fever'' (2003) and ''Hoste ...

's ''

Knock Knock Knock Knock may refer to: * Knock-knock joke, a type of joke Film and television * Knock Knock (1940 film), ''Knock Knock'' (1940 film), an animated short film noted for the first appearance of Woody Woodpecker * ''Knock Knock'' (2007 film), a ...

'', and that Reeves and Robin Gurland would be producers of the film. On November 7, Remark Films boarded on its first project to co-finance the film. On November 8,

joined the film. The other cast include Christopher McDonald, Big Daddy Kane, Michael Rispoli, Laura Gómez. In December 2014, Carlos José Alvarez was set to score the film.

Filming

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 actor ...

began in early November 2014 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. On November 26, filming was taking place in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Controversy

The original story was a surreal bi-lingual drama, reminiscent of ''

Pan's Labyrinth ''Pan's Labyrinth'' ( es, El laberinto del fauno, lit=The Labyrinth of the Faun, links=no) is a 2006 dark fantasy horror film written, directed and co-produced by Guillermo del Toro. A Spanish-Mexican(78% Spanish production, 22% Mexican productio ...

'' and '' Irreversible'', that focused on

child sexual abuse Child sexual abuse (CSA), also called child molestation, is a form of child abuse in which an adult or older adolescent uses a child for sexual stimulation. Forms of child sexual abuse include engaging in sexual activities with a child (whet ...

violence against women Violence against women (VAW), also known as gender-based violence and sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), are violent acts primarily or exclusively committed against women or girls, usually by men or boys. Such violence is often consi ...

mass incarceration Incarceration in the United States is a primary form of punishment and rehabilitation for the commission of felony and other offenses. The United States has the largest prison population in the world, and the highest per-capita incarceratio ...

, and

police violence Police brutality is the excessive and unwarranted use of force by law enforcement against an individual or a group. It is an extreme form of police misconduct and is a civil rights violation. Police brutality includes, but is not limited to, ...

committed under the pretense of the state's authority. However, the executives at Lionsgate Premiere thought they had been sold a Keanu Reeves cop-thriller. To increase the film's potential box office, during the editing process Lionsgate changed the story's focus to center on Reeves' character, and changed the film into a crime thriller. Gee Malik Linton is the director of the film, but is listed under the

pseudonym A pseudonym (; ) or alias () is a fictitious name that a person or group assumes for a particular purpose, which differs from their original or true name (orthonym). This also differs from a new name that entirely or legally replaces an individua ...

of Declan Dale.

Reception

Box office

Although the film has earned only $269,915 in worldwide theatrical box office, sales of its DVD/

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

releases have earned $1.6 million.

Critical response

The film holds an approval rating of 8% 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 ...

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 ...

, based on 25 reviews, with an average rating of 2.9/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Exposed'' lays its flaws fittingly bare for all but the least discerning viewers to see, starting with a dull yet convoluted plot that utterly overpowers the efforts of an intriguing cast." On

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, 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 arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, the film holds a score of 23 out of 100, based on 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".

Frank Scheck Frank Scheck is an American film critic. He is best known for his reviews in the ''New York Post'' and ''The Hollywood Reporter''. He formerly edited ''STAGES Magazine'' and worked as a theater critic for the ''Christian Science Monitor Ch ...

of ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Cinema of the United States, Hollywood film industry, film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade pap ...

'' gave the film a mixed review writing: "There are glimpses here and there of the film ''Exposed'' might have been, especially through the well-photographed upper Manhattan locations that provide a memorably gritty atmosphere. But anyone looking for a good Reeves thriller would be well advised to wait until '' John Wick 2''."

Mark Kermode Mark James Patrick Kermode (, ; ; born 2 July 1963) is an English film critic, musician, radio presenter, television presenter and podcaster. He is the chief film critic for ''The Observer'', contributes to the magazine ''Sight & Sound'', prese ...

, from ''

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 ...

'', compared the studio release with ''Daughter of God'', the

director's cut A director's cut is an edited version of a film (or video game, television episode, music video, or commercial) that is supposed to represent the director's own approved edit in contrast to the theatrical release. "Cut" explicitly refers to the ...

, on his

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

show. Indie film critic, Saint Pauly, wrote a comparison of both versions of the movie.

References

External links

* * (rating 1/5) {{DEFAULTSORT:Exposed (2016 Film) 2016 films 2010s Spanish-language films 2016 directorial debut films 2016 thriller films American nonlinear narrative films American thriller films MoviePass Films films Films about amnesia Films about domestic violence Films about rape Films about sexual abuse Films shot in New York City Incest in film American pregnancy films 2010s English-language films 2010s American films