Science on Screen: Face/Off

Saturday, January 20 at 7 PM

“Florid, passionate, frequently hilarious and loaded with messy emotions that nobody in his or her right mind should even attempt to explain, it’s operatic in its nutball intensity.”
— Stephanie Zacharek, Salon.com

KPAC presents FACE/OFF as part of our Science on Screen® series, showcasing films with introductions by notable figures from the world of science, technology, and medicine. To foil a terrorist plot, FBI agent Sean Archer assumes the identity of the criminal Castor Troy who murdered his son through facial transplant surgery, but the crook wakes up prematurely and vows revenge. John Travolta and Nicolas Cage play cat-and-mouse (and literally play each other) against a beautifully stylized backdrop of typically elegant, over-the-top John Woo violence.

Face on or off?
Dr. Ryan Driskell, head of the Fibroblast and Skin Regeneration Laboratory at the School of Molecular Biosciences in Washington State University, will discuss the cutting-edge science behind skin regeneration and the potential for facial transplants. This discussion prompts the intriguing question: Did John Woo predict a future where someday we might all be able to look like Nicolas Cage?

An initiative of the Coolidge Corner Theatre, with major support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Rated: R | 2 hr 18 min | Tickets: $8 Adult or Film Pass