Headshot will be premiering at Tiff before next screening at Fantastic Fest in Austin. Hopefully it will be available everywhere shortly thereafter, as I need this movie in my life.
A nameless man (Uwais) wakes up in a hospital with severe head trauma, not knowing who he is or what happened to him. Assisted by devoted student doctor Ailin (Chelsea Islan), who nicknames him “Ishmael” after the character in Moby Dick, he recovers and tries to regain his memory. Naturally, Ishmael’s past is about to catch up with him, in the form of Lee (Sunny Pang), a drug lord and gang boss whose tentacles reach deep into the police and the penal system. When Ailin is kidnapped and Ishmael sets out to get her back, he finds himself pitted against an array of skilled fighters who may have been his former colleagues. As Ishmael battles through a series of deadly fights with this squad of enforcers, fragments of his past are teased out and the puzzle of his identity begins to come together.
Directors Timo Tjahjanto (known in the West for the “Libido” segment in The ABCs of Death (Midnight Madness 2012) and the “Safe Haven” episode in V/H/S/2 with Gareth Evans) and Kimo Stamboel — a.k.a. The Mo Brothers — have a keen eye for action, and they keep it coming at a speedy clip as Ishmael kicks, punches, ducks, and flips his way through the Indonesian underground.
