Identity crisis has a complete new meaning for the heroine of The Disappearance of Nora. In the beginning she (played by Veronica Hamel) wakes up in the desert, beat up and with nothing but a red dress. She doesn't remember anything – not her name nor how she ended there. The instinct tells her to go to Reno where she meets Denton (played by Dennis Farina), head of security in one of the casinos. He decides to help her and employs his detective skills in order to identify her and thus bring her back to her family. But even when she is finally given her proper identity, the incident that caused her amnesia remains the mystery and source of new frustrations, doubts and fears.
The opening scenes of this 1993 TV movie are in many ways similar to the opening scenes of Siesta, 1987 thriller by Mary Lambert, which also featured amnesiac woman trying to find her identity. However, the similarities between the two films end in the beginning - while Siesta turns out to be nothing more than over-pretentious drama, The Disappearance of Nora remains mystery thriller from the beginning to the end. Makers of this film, which is basically a routine television production, perhaps lack artistic ambitions but they compensate it with experience and craftsmanship. While the script by Alan Ormsby and Tom Cole has its share of cliches, and the plot twist at the end is not so unpredictable, experienced director Joyce Chopra knows how to compensate those flaws with good atmosphere and superb cast. Veronica Hamel brings a lot of vulnerability to her character, Dennis Farina is great as kind-hearted tough guy and Stephen Collins also makes a good job out of rather thankless role. Mostly due to their efforts, The Disappearance of Nora captivates the viewer's attention and ends up like a nice little television thriller which should deserve recommendation or two.
RATING: 5/10 (++)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on July 10th 2001)
==
Blog in Croatian https://draxblog.com
Blog in English https://draxreview.wordpress.com/
Cent profile https://beta.cent.co/@drax
Minds profile https://www.minds.com/drax_rp_nc
Brave browser: https://brave.com/dra011
BTC donations: 1EWxiMiP6iiG9rger3NuUSd6HByaxQWafG
ETH donations: 0xB305F144323b99e6f8b1d66f5D7DE78B498C32A7
Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/570377-the-disappearance-of-nora?language=en-US
Critic: AA