Complete Unknown movie storyline. This shape-shifting tale of the perils and pleasures of self-reinvention begins at a dinner party, when Tom’s (Michael Shannon) co-worker arrives with an intriguing date named Alice (Rachel Weisz). Tom is convinced he knows her, but she refuses to acknowledge their history. And when Alice makes a hasty exit, Tom sets off after her. What follows is an all-night odyssey shared by two people, one needing to change his life, the other questioning how to stop changing.
Complete Unknown is a 2016 drama mystery thriller film, directed by Joshua Marston, from a screenplay by Marston and Julian Sheppard. It stars Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates and Danny Glover. The film had its world premiere at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2016. Amazon Studios acquired U.S distribution rights to the film, and IFC Films became co-distributor. The film was released on August 26, 2016.
About the Story
A woman is shown living a variety of different lives under different aliases in different cities. In New York City, she manufactures a meeting with Clyde at a cafeteria and introduces herself as Alice, a biologist who specializes in studying frogs and who has recently returned from an extended project in Tasmania.
Clyde’s friend and coworker Tom is preparing for a birthday party with his wife Ramina, an aspiring jewelry designer. Since Alice says she is looking to meet new friends, he takes her to the party. There she charms Ramina and the other guests with tales of her life and work in Tasmania. When Tom returns from the party he seems to recognize her and calls her “Jenny”.
Ramina announces that she has been accepted into a prestigious jewelry design fellowship in California, something Tom was not yet aware of. Over dinner, Alice tells of how she had impulsively decided to live in Mexico for a year, without informing her family. The admission causes some of the dinner guests to question her life choices.
Later, Tom confronts Alice, who admits to being Jenny, an old college girlfriend who disappeared. She explains that she has spent the last fifteen years living under a string of assumed identities, abandoning them and moving on whenever she begins to feel trapped. She has come to New York to see Tom, someone who knows her from her old life.
The groups heads to a nightclub. Alice does a magic trick for Tom and explains that she learned it while working as a magician’s assistant in China. The admission causes Clyde and the others to question her story and whether she lied about her background. Alice leaves the club and Tom follows her. They run into a woman named Nina who is walking her dog.
When Nina sprains her ankle they help her back to her nearby apartment, with Alice claiming to be a pediatric surgeon. At the apartment which Nina shares with her husband Roger, Alice introduces Tom as Tony, an osteopath. At Roger’s urging, Tom examines Nina. He begins to understand the thrill which Alice feels from pretending, but becomes uncomfortable and they leave.
Complete Unknown (2016)
Directed by: Joshua Marston
Starring: Rachel Weisz, Michael Shannon, Kathy Bates, Danny Glover, Condola Rashad, Chris Lowell, Tessa Albertson, Kelly AuCoin, Azita Ghanizada, Michael Chernus, Zach Appelman, Frank De Julio
Screenplay by: Joshua Marston, Julian Sheppard
Production Design by: Tommaso Ortino
Cinematography by: Christos Voudouris
Film Editing by: Malcolm Jamieson
Costume Design by: Ciera Wells
Set Decoration by: Philippa Culpepper
Art Direction by: Seth Williamson
Music by: Saunder Jurriaans, Danny Bensi
MPAA Rating: R for some language.
Distributed by: Amazon Studios, IFC Films
Release Date: January 25, 2016 (Sundance Film Festival), August 26, 2016 (United States)
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