The Actor

Name: The Actor
Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Crime
Released: March 14, 2025
Rating: 62
Cast: Asim Chaudhry, Fabien Frankel, Gemma Chan, Joe Cole, May Calamawy

2025

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Generally favorable reviews based on 13 Critic Reviews

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The Actor

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Movie Details & Credits

Neon | Release Date: March 14, 2025 | R

Starring: Asim Chaudhry, Fabien Frankel, Gemma Chan, Joe Cole, May Calamawy, Simon McBurney, Tanya Reynolds, Toby Jones, Tracey Ullman, Youssef Kerkour

Summary: Paul Cole (André Holland) is stranded in a mysterious small town with no memory of who he is or how he got here. Without a sense of identity or purpose, he starts from scratch and begins courting a local costume designer Edna (Gemma Chan). As bits and pieces of his past slowly emerge, he attempts to find his way home, but time is slippery,Paul Cole (André Holland) is stranded in a mysterious small town with no memory of who he is or how he got here. Without a sense of identity or purpose, he starts from scratch and begins courting a local costume designer Edna (Gemma Chan). As bits and pieces of his past slowly emerge, he attempts to find his way home, but time is slippery, appearances can’t be trusted, and it’s unclear which of his identities is real. Based on the novel Memory by Donald E. Westlake.… Expand

Director: Duke Johnson

Genre(s): Drama, Mystery, Thriller, Crime

Rating: R

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Critic Reviews

Chase Hutchinson

Mar 11, 2025

A captivating portrait of a man who can’t seem to remember who he is and may not ever be able to, Duke Johnson’s live-action feature debut is an enrapturing film that speaks in this language of half-remembered dreams before descending into something closer to a nightmare. Read full review

Collider Ross Bonaime

Mar 11, 2025

The Actor is a film about discovering who you truly are, and it also reveals that Johnson is a captivating, promising filmmaker who hopefully won’t wait another decade to make his next film. Read full review

Jeannette Catsoulis

Mar 13, 2025

Johnson and Stephen Cooney have shaped an unsettling, sorrowful journey from damage to a kind of deliverance. Read full review

IndieWire David Ehrlich

Mar 10, 2025

Cuttingly funny at times, The Actor isn’t much interested in answering any of those questions, but this semi-inert death trip of a film teases a certain pull from its cosmic uncertainty. Read full review

RogerEbert.com Brian Tallerico

Mar 14, 2025

It’s an undeniably haunting piece of work, a story that’s out of place and time in a world that’s like our own but not quite. Rod Serling would have dug it. Read full review

Amy Nicholson

Mar 12, 2025

It’s confounding that Johnson ignores the book’s brutal existentialism. But it’s equally fascinating that other parts of the story get their hooks in him. A novel — any piece of art, really — functions like a dream. You grab onto the bits that resonate. It’s why people can leave the same movie with totally different interpretations. Read full review

Ryan Swen

Mar 11, 2025

The pat nature of its surprisingly sentimental conclusion only highlights the degree to which Johnson’s directorial interventions feel like attempts to gild the lily, registering as surface-level oddities deployed in a half-successful attempt to replace the psychological insight needed to truly explore identity in such an extreme scenario. Read full review

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