All I See Is You

Greetings again from the darkness. Director Marc Forster has crafted a career of making movies that are readily watchable, though for the most part, not especially memorable. These include: FINDING NEVERLAND, STRANGER THAN FICTION, QUANTUM OF SOLACE, WORLD WAR Z, and his best film, MONSTER'S BALL (2001). His latest falls short of those, but thanks to Blake Lively and some creative visuals, we remain interested enough.

This is Ms. Lively's follow up to last year's surprise summer hit THE SHALLOWS, her nearly one-woman sea-based spectacle. This time out she does an admirable job of carrying the film in spite of script flaws. It's co-written by Sean Conway and director Forster, and despite teasing some fascinating psychological aspects, we find ourselves constantly waiting for the movie to show us what we already know is about to happen. Predictability is rarely an asset for a film, and here it acts as a ball and chain to the pacing.

The first third of the film works to establish two things: what Gina's (Lively) daily life is like as a blind person, and the type of relationship she and her husband (Jason Clarke) have. We get an abundance of distorted light flashes to simulate what she has lived with since the car accident that took away her parents and her vision during childhood. Her marriage finds her very dependent on her husband and Clarke's character thrives on this … even giving brief glimpses of his demented personality that will eventually take over the film in the final act.

Gina's doctor (Danny Huston) performs a transplant which successfully restores her vision. The bulk of the story revolves around the changes that vision brings to her life and how the marriage begins disintegrating. The best message here is what happens to a relationship as the individuals change and evolve. Specifically in this case, the wife gains an entirely new perspective, while the husband longs for the days where she was dependent on him.

At times it feels as if director Forster is working hard to create the look and feel of an experimental movie, rather than focusing on the story. There are some interesting visuals provided by locations and camera angles, although the moody atmosphere never really clicks. Ms. Lively singing "Double Dutch" provides an ending that is both odd and mesmerizing in a strange way. We are reminded that evil and self-centeredness can take on many forms, though this film never quite packs the dramatic punch it should.

If you like a movie full of soft porn and characters that leave you emotionally numb then this one is for you. I truly like Blake Lively but felt this was a waste of time for her. And then the plot was so muddled you didn't know what was going on half the time. I like a good mystery and artsy films but this one just leaves you befuddled. And good luck deciphering the ending because that was the biggest mystery of all....altogether a disappointing flick.

All I see is a film school thesis movie that should have been failed and forgotten. Instead, the director's lust for Blake Lively led to a near pornographic experience that lacks any satisfaction

Time to tell you how bad this film is. I didn't know much about it but I really like Blake Lively. Ever since the Gossip Girl days I've been interested in seeing more of her. The Shallows might be ridiculous at times but she's good in it and does show effort to her role. The same can be said for her commitment to this film, however its a shame everything else about this film lets her down. Its definitely a "what the hell did I just watch" film.

The film is about a woman who is blind and has surgery to repair her vision. Once this happens her husband starts realizing that she knows about how attractive and appealing she is and becomes concerned with their marriage falling apart and her being pulled out towards other relationships. That's really whats going on. Along the way she starts losing her sight again along with her relationship. And then there's a what the heck moment with an incredibly stupid ending.

The film does a good job of portraying eye popping visuals for what Lively's character sees when she is blind. The foggy, ever changing, and almost psychedelic visuals of her vision are quite nice to look at. As mentioned earlier Lively is good in this, but everyone in this film is unlikable. Lively's character isn't worth redeeming, Jason Clarke' s character is mysterious, like was he even good or bad? There's a lot of weird awkward moments dialogues about dicks and a very weirdly creepy brother in law. Yikes.

I want to say there was potential here but about twenty minutes in you realize that its just wasted time. I want to see Lively in something better with a good filmmaker to bat. This is just a frustratingly bad experience because we have a frustrating director at the helm. Its quite stupid at times, you may want to check it out to see if you can form a different more positive opinion about it. Honestly though, its better to not "see" this one.

5/10

Producer, director, writer Marc Forster is best known for directing the films Monster's Ball, Finding Neverland, The Kite Runner, Quantum of Solace and World War Z wrote this screenplay with Sean Conway (TV series Ray Donavan and Shameless). ALL I SEE IS YOU is a theme with challenge to any writer: these tow men almost meet that challenge but seem to get lost in the process. The result is a very long, tedious, cinematographer's holiday (Matthias Koenigswieser) about the world we see and the world we don't see. Despite the presence of some fine actors the film is tedious and loses the audience after about thirty minutes of blurry (but colorful!) versions of the world passing by the eyes of a blind girl.

Apparently blinded since childhood when a hideous car-crash cost her her parents and her eyesight (a fact that is never explained - we must guess that is the case), beautiful Gina (Blake Lively) scarcely leaves their home in Bangkok, Thailand and is dependent on her attentive and doting husband, James (Jason Clark), who is her everything: her protector, her guide, and the sole intermediary with the outside world and who has never known the sighted Gina, and wants to make a baby. Medicine intervenes, a cutting-edge but highly experimental cornea transplant By one Dr. Hughes (Danny Huston) promises to restore Gina's vision, at least to her right eye--and when the bandages come off all of a sudden unexplored colors and senses begin to appear to her. But she is dependent on steroid drops in her eyes to assure the transplant takes. As a result, Gina will see her husband and her unknown reflection in the mirror for the first time, she befriends an unwanted dog, makes friends with dog walker cum sensual interest (Wes Chatham), and with time and some distance from James and an odd visit to her Barcelona sister Carla (Ahna O'Reilly) and her artsy husband Ramon (Miquel Fernández) Gina becomes pregnant (though James has discovered he is sterile!), and her vision is altered again - the reason is only suggested. And then the film ends.

Chunks of the story are missing (?intentionally?) and the constant cinematic version of the world through near blind eyes becomes as tiring to the audience as it must to the patient with altered eyesight. There are some odd sidebars of Gina playing the guitar with a young girl, surreal shots of Bangkok, strange S&M scenes unexplained that keep our attention at times. The concept regarding blindness and how it affects the victim are sound. It is the delivery of the 'story' that begs editing.