All I See Is You

"All I See Is You" (2017 release; 110 min.) brings the story of Gina and James, a married couple. As the movie opens, we are told it's "Bangkok, Thailand", and the couple is making love, trying to conceive. In the next few moments, we understand that Gina is legally blind, following a horrific car crash. She can't see more than a blur of light (and the camera shows us what that's like). But then, wonderful news! The eye car clinic tells her they can restore sight to her right eye. After the operation, Gina indeed gains eyesight. But now problems arise in the marriage nevertheless (or because so?). At this point we are 15 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.

Couple of comments: this is the latest movie from director Mark Forster, who previously brought us "Moster's Ball" and "World War Z", among others. Here he goes in in different direction: what is life like when you unexpectedly regain your eyesight? and how does it affect personal relationships? The movie leaves us guessing for a long time how it really is unfolding, and that's fine. The first part of the movie focuses on the sensation of regaining eyesight ("I just want to see colors", says Gina), while the second part focuses on the marriage issues between Gina and James (sorry, can't say more so as not to spoil), Blake Lively, whom we saw lat year in "Cafe Society" and the far better than expected "The Shallows", takes the movie on her shoulders and is absolutely tops. Jason Clark as the husband is fine. The movie's photography is eye-candy. I've never been to Bangkok and didn't quite realize how sophisticated a metropolis it is. The scenes in southern Spain and in Barcelona are equally eye-candy.

"All I See Is You" premiered at the 2016 Toronto International Film Festival, yes, over a year ago. No idea why it has taken this long to finally get a proper theater release. The movie opened this weekend at my local art-house theater here in Cincinnati, and I couldn't wait to see it. The Saturday evening screening where I saw this at was attended so-so (about 10 people in total) and that is not a good sign. I can only speak for myself obviously, but I quite enjoyed this psychological marriage drama, even if things (or perhaps just because) aren't always quite clear. I'd suggest you check this out, be it in the theater, on VOD, or eventually on DVD/Blu-ray, and draw your own conclusion.

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.

"All I See Is You" is a film that left me a tad disappointed. The idea for the story was very good but at times the execution seemed a bit flat....and the cinematographic trick seemed overused.

The story is oddly set in Thailand...and I really was never sure why a blind American woman would live in such a world. I have nothing against Thailand or any other country....but it did seem odd she would live in such a difficult place in which she could become acclimated due to the language and culture. It would be difficult enough to live her life in a more familiar setting. Regardless, she lives with her husband and her life seems good. But after she receives eye surgery and her vision is restored, the marriage begins to show a lot of problems....and how the husband responds to it is quite strange....but interesting.

The film wasn't bad at all and the notion of eye surgery actually resulting in a marital breakdown is fascinating. The Iranian director, Majid Majidi did a brilliant film about this ("The Willow Tree"). But here it seemed as if the film had two problems. First, to simulate the woman's vision, we often saw distorted views of the world...and this seemed overused and gimmicky. Second, some of the film seemed unnecessarily crude and rather gross. A but more subtlety would have made for a better story. Still, it is interesting and you won't hate it....but it so easily could have been a bit better.

Marc Forster has delivered some decent big budget films in the past, like World War Z and Quantum of Solace, but All I See is You is smaller and a less epic offering. The story is an interesting one, a woman who has been blind for a long time has a procedure to get her eyesight back. The recovery period is long but ultimately successful in helping her gain her eyesight back, but she slowly starts realizing her life is not at all what it seems.

I thought the cast did a fine job, Blake Lively played a blind woman quite well and Jason Clarke played her supportive yet angry husband.

The problem with this movie is that nothing really happens, it tried to hit the viewer with a couple twists but those ultimately fell flat. Another problem was that it tried to use sex to further the narrative but that really just got in the way and felt forced. Maybe Marc was trying to distract the viewer with sex so they don't realize his movie is boring. A sort of plus was the handful of cool visuals that were scattered throughout the film, I won't tell you what they are because I don't really know how to explain them and if you choose to see it, I don't want to give anything away.

My Suggestion: See it if you like Blake Lively or Jason Clarke enough to sit through a boring movie starring them.

Seen at TIFF 2016.

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.