Persona
Directed by Mike Ho
Written by Blyth Kemp
Starring: Shanti Lowry, Sophia Ali, Andrew Howard, Omar Gooding
Unrated
Runtime: 1 hour, 43 minutes
Available on digital/on-demand December 3

by Rachel Shatto, Staff Writer

Persona opens with a compelling scenario: A woman (Shanti Lowry) wakes alone, injured, in a boarded-up house with no memory of who she is or how she came to be in this terrifying plight. We see her scramble around the house seeking an exit, a phone, a lifeline of any kind. The clues surround her if she can manage to put them together. Bottles of pills litter the floor, a drawer reveals dozens of cellphones, the windows aren’t just padlocked, but boarded over. Amnesia or no, one thing is clear: She’s in grave danger and the clock is ticking if she wants to have any hope of survival.

The stakes only escalate when she discovers that she’s actually not alone — tucked away behind an armoire is a room holding a terrifying secret. Another woman (Sophia Ali), also injured, also unsure how she came to be in this situation, is tied up and being held captive. Together they redouble their escape plan efforts while trying to piece together fractured memories before their captor or captors return.

The film is a chamber play, with all the action taking place in a single location— mostly a two-hander that sees the women alternatively fighting for survival or buckling to their inner demons as their mortality comes into focus with each passing moment. While both Lowry and Ali convincingly portray the fear and desperation of the moment, the more emotional wrought beats don’t quite land as effectively, leaning more into melodrama than any real poignancy. This is particularly true in the final act, which finally reveals both their captors’ identities but the women’s, well, personas, as well and the performances go from heightened to hysteria. Twists unfold and motivations are revealed through lengthy, if confusing, exposition.

While the film does offer a strong opening sequence and proffers a compelling mystery, it only toys with themes of female solidarity and gives us little reason to connect with, and thus fear for, its characters. Persona ultimately lacks the emotional heft or the kind of mind-bending resolution that would give the film the kind of payoff the set up teases—and requires—to really see it rank alongside similar films like Saw or Cube.