Suture

Clay is briefly re-acquainted with his half-brother Vincent at their father’s funeral. Vincent, wanting to flee the country, stages an accident meant to look like his own death, but substitutes Clay in his place. Remarkable, Clay survives the explosion, although he now suffers amnesia. With the help of a plastic surgeon and a psychoanalyst, he is ‘restored’ to an identity that was never his, Vincent’s. As Clay, now Vincent, begins to enjoy a new lease on life and new identity, he realises that he is suspected of murder. What may seem like a standard thriller is given a subversive spin by having Clay played by a black actor and Vincent by a white actor and having no-one during the course of the film commenting on it. The film explores the concept of personal and racial identity as well as that of social construct with a great sense of irony. Stephen Soderbergh was the film’s executive producer. Cast includes Dennis Haysbert, Michael Harris, Mel Harris, Sab Shimono and Dina Merrill.