The Way You Look Tonight

Glad I knew so little going in (be careful reading the other reviews here!): each revelation as the clever narrative unfolded surprised and delighted me.

I wasn't expecting to be moved and challenged by what appears at first to be a standard meet-cute rom com. Nick Fink does a great job in the leading man role: he's lovable, confused, and also not perfect, which really drew me in.

John Cerrito wrote, directed, co-edited, and co-produced this: rather than leading to a vacuous vanity project (as that often does), this is a terrifically successful embodiment of what's clearly his singular vision.

This film has really stuck with me!

This film is on the verge of being fantastic, but it never quite gets there.

It's not because of the cast, Why Nick Finck isn't a huge star is beyond me, he is amazing on camera and just feels like a natural. Overall, every cast member is stellar.

The film takes a little too long to get going, the first 30 minutes seem to drag. Then the story is revealed and the film gets interesting. The slow start is made even weirder by the ending, which seems quite abrupt and provides little closure to the story arc. With a bit more budget and some better writing, this would have been a 10/10 film. As it is, it is still very much with a watch.

When I saw the one very low rating and a bunch of 9 and 10 ratings I got worried that this film was going to be a dud, hyped by crew and friends, but I'm glad I made the effort to check it out.

The pluses are this is a very strong concept well thought out and executed. The writer director hasn't shy'd away from some uncomfortable repercussions of the premise which is essentially saying people are who they are on the inside regardless of what they look like on the outside, and it definitely tests that hypothesis. It is a little bit 'woke' in it's presentation of that and doesn't really acknowledge concepts of physical attraction.

I thought the acting was really good, very natural and did pretty well to convey the one person many faces thing. I really liked the world building aspects, ie the big out, the local bar that specialises, the help group and their meeting, etc and the central character managing to miss all of it. The things it didn't quite manage to deliver was selling the core attraction of the 2 main characters, the why they should bother with each other angle, and any explanation of the why this is all happening, although I think that perhaps that was a wise move in that there isn't a scientific point to be made on the mechanism, more a point to be made from the mcguffin of the set up.

As much as I support the perspective on gender fluidity and inherent nature of us all on the inside that's not the world we live in, and it would have been cool to have seen so acknowledgement of the traits of physical attraction and sexual orientation, beyond the 2 guys get it on scene. How does our changeling character who has said she is female and identifies as female feel about being changed against her will to Male, and does she sympathise with our central characters difficulty in deal with this?

Questions to be answered at another time I guess, but for what it is this movie is not a 1 star piece of junk made by amateurs, it is a thought provoking and interesting concept, acted and shot well, and doesn't shy away from the deeper and possibly more uncomfortable aspects of it's premise.

This film has a bit of a slow-burn start - there's a meet-cute at the top and everything is going well for our lead, but then the girl he was connecting so well with disappears the next day. What follows is a bit unconventional - there's a bit of a mystery element as Peter goes on a new dating site and keeps finding women who are acting strangely towards him and wearing very similar clothing - and there's hinting of a connection to that first girl, but the "twist" comes in about a third into the movie. It's hard to talk about what makes this movie cool without ruining the surprise - but I think the slow burn mystery, while a little cumbersome at times, is worth sticking out. I'll just say there is a bit of a fantasy component that comes in, which is used in some interesting ways to talk about issues of identity and gender and a lot of other things. Overall, I think this is a smartly executed film that demands more from you that the typical rom com.

The characters are all likeable . . . loveable even. The acting is good. The concept original.

The problem is that, while it's watchable and it IS absorbing, it isn/t either of those things to a great enough extent to rate the numbers of stars I'm seeing here.

I watched and enjoyed the whole thing, sort of. But had to fast forward several times 'cause it just wasn't quite absorbing enough.

It IS heartwarming . . . it's just, I guess, not quite well enough written to draw you all the way in.

Very loving, though. It has a good heart.