Anon

Imagine a world where everything you see is collected in your brain and stored as a digital record, which can be accessed sometimes with your permission, and sometimes without. It's a world where everyone is accountable for their actions, because their actions cannot be hidden. We can immediately imagine the benefits of such technology because lying, cheating, stealing and murder cannot occur in an environment where everyone's digital record can be accessed, and evidence of consciousness of guilt gets written and stored on your digital brain, which can then be either downloaded or shared telepathically.

However, in the real human world, the desire to lie, cheat, steal and murder does not go away, simply because there is technology to uncover one's deeds. In the real world, people want privacy for non-nefarious as well as nefarious deeds. And in Anon, this is where computer hackers come to engage and sell their services. One such hacker specializes in erasing client's records, as well as the records of those who interacted with her client in planning or engaging in criminal, and sub-criminal deeds. The only problem is that there is a serial killer killing off the hacker's clients and framing the hacker for the murders.

Anon is both an original and clever movie which addresses the philosophical question of how much information should the government have regarding your personal life, your thoughts and your memories, all at the expense of privacy and anonymity. It forces the viewer into a creepy world where your personal thoughts are public, and that nothing is secret, or even worse, that your record can be altered.

I'm not sure if Anon is as much original as it is simply taking existing technology and extrapolating where tech companies, and a police state would love to have tech go. Because it has not been done before, and subtly integrates into the discussion, the tension of the technology privacy debate, and a serial killer, Anon, gets high marks for originality. This simply has not been done before.

Anon, however, doesn't go the whole mile. Anon disappoints in that it had the potential to be a truly superb film. The failure to show the political, social and economic struggle as to how the world got to the point of implementing such technology is a catastrophic failure in that it suggests that this level of intrusion is simply the new normal, and that there is, and was never outrage behind its implementation. WTF. It also, fails to discuss or elaborate the potential for such technology to be weaponized or simply create world wide anarchy.

Additionally, I took issue with (1) slow pace of the film (2) underdevelopment of the serial killer (3) somewhat monotone acting and (4) seemingly lack of suspense and drama, given the potential issues which could have been incorporated into the film.

The above issues notwithstanding, it is the kind of movie, you get drawn into to watch and listen, because there are some good nuggets in the script. Given the message, I'll watch it a second time, and maybe a third, even though the ending was both anti-climatic, and disappointing.

I watched this with no particular expectation about the story, and I haven't seen "Black Mirror." Two of my favorite actors, Clive Owen and Colm Feore star in it - I'm one of those old-fashioned people who follows the actors or director.

"Anon" takes place some time in the future, where no one has any privacy, where everyone's history is instantly available, everyone's memories are recorded and can be viewed.

Detective Sal Frieland becomes intrigued as he investigates a series of murders and sees a young woman on the street who has no data. The murders are traced to a message board where people go to contact a hacker who can erase something in their record. Could this woman be killing her clients? He goes undercover to hire her and find out her identity.

Amanda Seyfried plays the woman, Anon, and she looks completely different as a brunette. The film is interestingly photographed - in kind of gray tones with lots of strange camera angles.

I found it an interesting concept and enjoyed the film.

ANON is yet another Hollywood thriller that's cutting edge when it comes to modern technology, this time concerning surveillance and its implications in the 21st century world. Thus it shines a light on modern practices which are undoubtedly worrying to some. Unfortunately that's about all it has to say, as there's virtually zero storyline apart from a mild little murder mystery whose solution turns out to be mundane, to say the least. Clive Owen seems to be too old for the lead role - the years haven't been kind to him - although Amanda Seyfried fares better as the femme fatale. However, the plot and scripting are far too generic to be of any real depth or interest.