Two faces of January

Success at the Berlinale fuelled my fascination to see this period and classicly inspired film; two faces of January. Early on, we see holidaying Americans Chester (Viggo Mortensen) and Colette (Kirsten Dunst) walking around the Parthenon in 1962. We soon learn that they have escaped for the summer, and while it seems they are the prey for a small-time con artist called Rydal (Oscar Isaac), we quickly realise that Chester is on the run from some of his own shady business deals. There is a hint of frisson between Rydal and Colette as he helps her to try on a bracelet, while ripping off her husband as he buys it. Then the aplha males spar for position and her attention, as a tense battle of wits takes us from Greece to Turkey, and finally to the back alleys of Istanbul's Grand Bazaar. Visually and intellectually entertaining...