In Your Eyes

In Your Eyes (2014)

A terrific concept—and it unveils early on but if you don't know it it's a great surprise—and a well done movie, too. The key is the two main actors, a young man and a young woman in very different circumstances who seem destined for each other.

And they are 3000 miles apart.

Zoe Kazan (granddaughter of the director) is terrific throughout, playing a well- heeled woman with a controlling husband in beautiful New Hampshire. And Michael Stahl-David plays her counterpart with similar introspective intensity, but as an minor ex-con in a trailer in beautiful New Hampshire. What they have in common is something no one else has—and no one else can know about.

It's the ultimate romance movie in that first sense that you know they belong together and circumstances are keeping them apart. But it's also a romance in a deeper way, because the two get to know each other with extreme openness and intimacy. They naturally fall in love. And the world naturally will not make it easy.

In many ways the filming is quite solid in a familiar way, not drawing attention to itself except in scenes where two realities are made to blend (crudely). This is all about story and more story. Some of the side characters are imperfectly developed (even the controlling husband doesn't always resonate quite right). But the two leads are spot on, and their parallel development is our fascination.

This movie goes beyond what most romantic movies strive to do: depict a touching love story. Instead of just doing that this is about the immaterial asset in love we humans think we're capable of: to truly connect with someone on a higher level that no one else can understand. Some view this story as a romantic sci-fi movie, but these viewers ought to pay closer attention to unravel the continuous symbolism that runs throughout. The main concept that is to be found here is an allegory, with the subject consisting of distant soul mates.

The element of distance must've posed a daring job for cinematographers and actors, but they overcame this obstacle brilliantly: camera angles, lighting, stills,...all emphasized the 'facial acting' of the two lead characters portrayed by Zoe Kazan and Michael Stahl-David. On a closing note: Zoe Kazan- I don't know what it is about that innocence- epitomizes the new romance flick leading ladies. Following in the footsteps of Zooey Deschanel and Rachel McAdams these ladies win over a very broad male audience which has a whole lot to do with presenting a counterweight for the -often balancing on vulgar- sexually (and morally) unruly pop culture.

I don't know what the hell those last two folks were smoking when they watched this movie...but they missed probably one of the best love stories that I've ever seen! Obviously, they've never really been in love or haven't found their soul mates yet. The acting is incredible...especially when you add the fact that the two main characters are never in the same film studio. Pure acting at it's best! I also like the fact that the whole world could see this at the same time and not have to wait for it to show up at their local theaters. I pity the people who don't have a computer, because they'll never know the masterpiece that they missed. Maybe someday it will be made into a DVD for them? Does anyone know if it will be?

Joss Whedon is the creator of "Firefly" (2002-2003) or "Buffy, The Vampire Slayer" (1997-2003). The first a cult TV show, the second a terrible show that became almost a sci-fi classic piece of work, don't ask me why. All of this before becoming the guiding light of the Marvel films. But even before that, a young Whedon wrote this script right when he moved to L.A.

Almost two decades later, Whedon and writer Brin Hill ("Won't Back Down", 2012) teamed up to create a small project through a small company, Bellwether studios, who supported the film. This way you have a fully independent and funded movie. Rebecca (Zoe Kazan, the unforgettable Ruby Sparks), is not happy. She is married to a brilliant doctor and has everything she might need, yet she feels out of place and empty. Right across the country, an ex-con named Dylan (Michael Stahl-David) tries not to mess it up once again, since he has been a disappointment to everybody he ever knew. How these two opposite people can even begin to click? that is the reason to watch. It is an unexpected kind of love, but it is love anyway. This is not a classic boy meets girl, falls in love and so on. This is about how lost people can find themselves and their soul mates, in any given moment and in the most mysterious ways. Kazan and Stahl-David play flawed characters, but they are so human, so real you cannot help but relating to them. The movie keeps an intimate approach, and ultimately it gets to you, it is fantastic yet familiar. Don't miss it.

In Your Eyes was written by Joss Whedon but on the surface it isn't your usual Whedon story. It is essentially a tale of love, two people who feel connected but are thousands of miles apart. Yet there is a twist, they can literally see through each others eyes and into the others world.

Now at times this film could verge on the melodrama but the chemistry between leads Zoe Kazen as Rebecca and Michael Stahl-David as Dylan is pretty amazing made more surprising by the fact that well they aren't on screen together. It is really hard not to fall for their charms even if the story goes many places I expected it to.

Not groundbreaking by any means by definitely worth watching. This is a tale about lonely people trying to connect and in the end that really is what a lot of Whedon's work is about.