Psychological Thrillers - Identity Opening

Identity - "I Met a Man Who Wasn't There"

Identity (2003) Staring John Cusack and Ray Liotta opens with a voice over the titles, played from a tape from an interview. The psychological elements of the film are introduced straight away, looking back in retrospect.  The man says "Going up the stairs, I met a man who wasn't there. He wasn't there again today, oh how I wish he'd go away" - referring to his split personalities and how he switches from one to another. A close up of the mans name - Malcolm Rivers is then shown, accompanied by the sound of thunder.

The tone is now set, that someone is looking over past evidence of a murder case from someone who has split personalities. The close ups of the stick men drawings with blood coming out of their throat is a precursor to what is actually going to happen, and also the mental state of Malcolm. The origin of the mans mental disorder is then looked in to, referring to his past. There is a suggestion of his mother having something to do with it, and when slowed down one can see the criminal records of her being arrested for possession - and while she was out leaving him abandoned in a motel. 

Looking back at the opening to the film in retrospect, it actually seems obvious that the events that were going to occur were in the mans head, and Malcolm wasn't sane. The use of a motel as the setting for the film referred back to where he was left as a kid, the names and birthdays of all the characters showing similarities. In terms of creating a sense of the psychological, as well as the rhyme at the start the clueless nature of the man in the interview helps to reinforce the idea. 

When I first watched the film, the twist actually came as a surprise to me. When re watching however the opening contained many clues as to what the film was going to be about and what the twist could have actually been. As with the film we wish to make, this could be replicated. Taking the opening to Identity on its own, it would not make much sense in relation to the rest of the film but once the film has been watched, it puts things in to perspective. 

JL