Faults

Q&A with Riley Stearns and stars Leland Orser and Mary Elizabeth Winstead

Ansel Roth is at the end of his rope. Once a prominent authority on mind control and cult organizations, he’s now broke and alone, resorted to doing lame, sparsely attended seminars and book signings at crappy hotels. On the edge of suicide he is approached with a new assignment: to help “save” a distraught couple’s 28-year-old daughter Claire from the mysterious titular religious cult. He reluctantly accepts, and as the five-day deprogramming mission is carried out, events become increasingly messy and bizarre, with Ansel’s outside troubles also paying an inopportune visit. This contained film—mostly taking place within the walls of a motel room—is guided by the dynamite lead performances of Leland Orser as Ansel and Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Claire, and a strikingly clever script (written by first-time feature director Riley Stearns) that is as funny and dark as it is surprising. A Screen Media Films release.