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Really Surprised!

Brilliant and touching

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

Hitchcock was a class apart, but many seem to believe that they can imitate him. Director Anthony Waller appears to have tried and, like Brian de Palma and other less famous names, fails, because he lacks the touch, the humor, that insubstantial quality that comes with genius. And a pity it is, because the idea is not bad: set in Moscow, a mute "American" girl (beautiful Martina Zudina is actually a Moscow-born Russian, so she was conveniently rendered mute so her accent would not give her away) working as a film production assistant witnesses a "snuff" crime committed in a studio lot, and she is chased for the rest of the film. The premise of film within a film is situated from the outset, with all manner of fake action happening with far too many props, and far too much fantasy for my liking. On positive aspect about the mute witness: there is far less shrieking than tends to be the case with movies of this type. The acting is generally appalling, with Evan Richards as the clumsiest geek you'll see. The Russian ensemble looks generally menacing... and yet less than convincing. Photography is competent enough, even if some stunts and action sequences require a vast amount of suspended belief, especially during the second half of the movie. Screenplay: reasonably gripping during the first half.The really interesting detail about this film is the Mystery Guest Star. In his memoirs entitled "MY NAME ESCAPES ME," Alec Guinness explains that he was approached by Anthony Waller to film a few scenes in the back of a car, and agreed to do so because he (Guinness) thought that it was a student film. Guinness also says that he was never offered, and never received any pay for his part, and in the above mentioned memoirs he makes it clear that he will not fall for a stunt like that again.So, the finest moment in the film was obtained under false pretenses, and that pretty much defines the entire project: as fake as the fake blood that pours throughout the film. I am giving this mediocrity a very generous 6 /10 because of Guinness, one of the finest actors ever to grace the silver screen.

Man, I never laughed so much this year, and it's quite hard to make me laugh. While I expected some Hostel-style movie, the smile came to my face even from the beginning. This film-inside-film start with a female stabbed "victim" messing the whole set until she finally "die". Her overacting drive the director nuts and his funny reaction tell us, the viewers, that Mute Witness is not a typically horror movie.The main character, the mute American make-up artist Billy Hughes, is played by the beautiful yet talented Russian actress Marina Zudina. Her performance is top-notch; her character can't speak, so the body language and the emotions on her face must compensate.And, oh boy, she did a wonderful job. Her sister (Fay Ripley) is the girlfriend or the fiancée or the wife of the "in-film director" (Evan Richards). They were both very funny most of the time. I won't spoil more, but the scenes following the bathtub moment, with them both, the fake policemen and later the angry neighbor were plain brilliant black comedy.The plot got twisted near the end, possibly misleading at one particular moment. But don't worry. Such a delicious movie can be viewed in family or with your boy-/girl-/friend.

It is always a well-known, and important directorial device to set up the atmosphere of a film within the first 5 minutes. In the crucial opening scenes, the film should assert itself and make the viewers take notice and get interested in the rest of the film. Here, in "Mute Witness", we find a prime example of this.*Scene spoiler* In the first 5-10 minutes, the film opens to a very Hitchcockian scene of a pretty blonde lady in her apartment, with the radio on. She's wandering around, applying lipstick, dolling herself up, and ignoring the news report of a serial killer on the loose. Of course, the serial killer is in her house, and monitoring her moves, knife in hand. She hears a noise, looks in a room, and there is her partner in a pool of blood. At the very point of her screams, she turns around to be faced with the knife-wielding maniac, who stabs her repeatedly in a brutal and horrifying act.......then something odd happens. As the woman convulses in her death throes, the killer sits down and takes out a cigarette to watch his victim perish. Before he finds his lighter, his cigarette is lit...from someone else in the room! The camera pans out, and we realise that there are more and more people in the room, some taking notes, some filming, some recording the death, and that the lady is taking an awfully long time to die, and making a very hammy job of it too. When the audience realises what's going on, and the whole scene is part of a film, the suspenseful and horrific scene takes on an element of humour.*End Scene Spoiler* I have highlighted this opening scene for several reasons. Firstly, it portrays the atmosphere of the whole movie perfectly. A thriller in the style of Hitchcock or De Palma, with some very disorientating, and even blackly humorous moments. - It conveys a central subject matter (that of the difference between a 'movie screen death' and a 'snuff film death', an issue which is elaborated on later in the film), and finally, it introduces the viewer to the characters, all as silently as possible.The plot of Mute Witness centres around Billy Hughes, an American special effects make-up artist who is working on the set of the film, being shot in a large warehouse in Moscow. Billy cannot speak, but she communicates in sign language through her sister. After the end of an evening's filming, Billy inadvertently finds herself locked in the warehouse by accident, and in her attempt to escape, is witness to two of the crew making what first appears to be a porno film, but turns out to be a snuff movie. Suddenly, her escape from the warehouse is a matter of life and death.Without doubt, the first half of the film is powerful and absolutely gripping. Billy's saving grace, and her handicap is the fact that she isn't able to utter a sound. (In fact, in my opinion, one of the best aspects of the film is the fact that it isn't chock-full of women screaming). There are some utterly disturbing moments, and some superb set-pieces of real suspense (The corridoor, and the elevator shaft are perfect examples). The timing is fluid, and the whole first half is an incredibly satisfying experience in itself.The second half of the film introduces new concepts. While there are still several suspenseful moments, the focus is on plot twists. New characters are introduced, and it is ambiguous as to whose side they are on. While there is nothing wrong per se with the second half of the film, it just doesn't quite measure up to the first half. There are some neat moments of black humour that perfectly juxtapose and punctuate some very dramatic scenes, but there are also some very lame comedy moments (coming specifically from Billy's sister and her fiancée, who happens to be the director of the movie Billy is working on), that almost ruin the film, just because they are badly misplaced and/or mistimed and ruin the pace. - At the end, the twists keep coming at a rapid-fire speed, and the climax of the film is, appropriately, as tense as the first half.There are several things that really make the movie work. The barriers of communication that Billy must face, both as a mute, and as an American in Moscow, mean that even an emergency call for help becomes a dangerous situation. The actress that plays Billy, Natasha Zudina, does a wonderful job in the film, with an engaging on-screen prescence, and a brilliant performance, and finally, the direction as a whole, but most particularly in the first half of the film, which truly is a study in Alfred Hitchcock's suspense/thriller film techniques.As I have already said, though, the let-downs in the film are from some terrible comic relief moments that really do not need to be added. There is already a consistent and effective streak of dark humour that appears in the film without the need for the characters of Karen Hughes and Andy Clarke (The sister and the moviemaker) to turn their scenes into some unusual sit-com. However, despite these shortcomings, the film is a thoroughly enjoyable thriller, and ideal for a group viewing at halloween. (Certainly better than the usual slasher horror film...!)

I was loaned this film on DVD by a friend, and would advise anyone else of the warning he gave me: don't be put off by the first ten minutes. After that, the film offers laughs and scares in pretty much equal measure, and throws in Obi-Wan Kenobi for kicks (but the soothing voice of the Jedi Master does come off as incongruous). Overall, I enjoyed the movie, but felt that it was not sure what it wanted to be, as it never committed to horror or comedy, but in flirting wholeheartedly with both, didn't seem to be a horror-comedy either. There was enough mileage in there for a highly effective thriller, but losing the comedy (wait for the devastation of Billy's apartment!) would also seem a shame, so I guess sticking with the schizophrenia works.