The One I Love (Charlie McDowell)

[Grouchy]

http://taylorholmes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/the-one-i-love.jpg

[Grouchy]

I voted Nay not because it's a terrible movie (it isn't) but because I think it sets up an interesting premise and then goes absolutely nowhere interesting with it. Also, I have no quarrel with the idea of a movie with only two actors in it for most of the screentime, but I got bored of these particular actors pretty quickly.

[transmogrifier]

70/100

Probably needs a second viewing to untangle the attempted explanation (which seems half-arsed at this point in time, but actually leads to some genuinely thorny interactions and decisions, so I can roll with it), and the ending is pleasingly ambiguous, a kind of pick your own adventure for the audience based on the state of their current relationship and/or their general attitude to long-term relationships in general.


Elizabeth Moss should be in all the things.

[dreamdead]

I want the coda to be about the Sophie 1 experiencing actual change and not just an admission of Sophie 2 being the one who really took flight.

If it's the latter, this film's emotional resonance, which captures the difficulties of relationships and commitment in interesting and grounded ways, gets tragically undercut. If it's the former, it speaks to Ethan's ability to communicate progress and engagement to his wife, who in turn breaks from her dalliances.

I think the decision to not have it be parallel realities or duplicates but rather wholly physical "doubles" is a silly shift in narrative logic. It's got a good thematic echo with Coherence until that point.

Moss continues to impress. Hard to believe that her role in Listen Up Philip didn't get more critical traction.