Truly Dreadful Film

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

There are moments that feel comical, some horrific, and some downright inspiring but the tonal shifts hardly matter as the end results come to a film that's perfect for this time.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

(Spoiler Alert) 1. What's interesting about this movie is the idea, which is unique, but everything else is nonsense. 2. The main idea is good. However, the other sideline stories are so bad that you lose interest in the whole movie. 3. The movie seriously needed more twists and interesting story lines, but it feels like the writer didn't care much. 4. Also such movies need more intimate feelings and synergy, but the actors were seriously like imitating for kids, not in a serious movie. 5. The revelation of the story was bad, it could have been much nicer. 6. The movie is not good enough to watch.

Some movies can show that cinema is not just made of large productions and even with low budget and no major special effects you can produce a great film. This is the case of The One I Love, first feature-film of the director Charlie McDowell. With an original script and filmed almost in one set (a country house), the viewer is captivated by the story and the main characters in such a way that he will wait anxiously for the outcome of the plot. The One I Love reminds us of another great film in the same style that also did not have the proper recognition: Coherence (2013).The story involves a couple, Ethan (played by Mark Duplass, known for Safety Not Guaranteed - 2012) and Sophie (played by Elisabeth Moss, known for the character Peggy Olson in the TV series Mad Men - 2007-2015), which make therapy to try to overcome the serious marital crisis in which they live. After an unsuccessful attempt to rediscover love through an important and happy time in the past, on the verge of separation, the therapist (played by Ted Danson, known for Saving Private Ryan - 1998) suggests as the last device in attempt to save the marriage of the couple that they spend a weekend in his cottage. What begins as a romantic and fun retreat soon becomes surreal when an unexpected discovery requires both to rethink about themselves, their relationships and their future.This is the typical movie that the less you know about the plot the better will be your cinematographic experience. Despite being classified as a romance, drama and science fiction, the movie can not be classified in a predominant genre. There are also passages of suspense and mystery in the history. And here we must highlight the work of the director and Justin Lader's great script, who tackles an issue that is not new (marital crisis) in a creative and engaging way. There is a deep approach to the difficulties of living together with someone as well as the expectations that we created with respect to each other and also to the new. There was a concern to keep the two views of the plot (the vision of man and woman) in balance, and the story does not force the viewer to tilt to one side. The soundtrack is subtle and sometimes goes unnoticed, but it sets the tone needed for the various stages of the work.A curiosity revealed by Duplass (which besides actor is also a director, writer and producer) in this interview, was that although the script has 50 pages and be carefully detailed, both in movement and in which the characters are doing, it doesn't have written dialogue. Thus, each piece of dialogue in the film was improvised. The actors were being as natural as they could with their motivations and the trajectory of the scene and using surprises so that the other does not accommodate, making more spontaneous actions than if they were rehearsing. It is noteworthy that the duo Duplass and Moss delivered fine performances both individually and as a couple. The viewer is involved in the story and have the impression that is watching a actual story with real characters and conflicts.The title of the film, The One I Love, seems innocent and generic, but gains new connotations when contrasted with the story itself and the movie poster. With a few twists, a clever and intriguing plot and a deliberately open-ending, the movie will leave you thinking about its nuances. This is a film that provokes reflection and certainly will rouse in the viewer the will to go back in the history, whether to contemplates it in detail or to try to get some answers to the questions that were unanswered. Originally posted in: https://vikingbyheart.blogspot.com.br

This is a slow start, but the second half makes it worth a watch. You better know nothing about the film, just have it and enjoy your time. Because that was the case for me and then I found it a good one. I don't know this director, but Mark Duplass was doing such kind of unique concept small films. So there's no surprise, except I did know I would end up liking it very much.When it comes to the film theme, kind of resembles 'Coherence'. The whole film revolves around a married couple, except in the beginning. So it is a minimal cast film that is set in a remote place villa. As their therapist's instruction a couple who are on the edge of losing their marriage, tries a weekend getaway to patch the differences. But end up encountering the strange events that pleases them more than what they've expected. When they begin to realise the reality, comes the trouble to fix it once for all.The third act was amazing. The pace keeps getting better and the tension in the story simply creates enough curiosity about the ending. But the conclusion was very basic and guessable. I liked the honest than too much fancy. Still the viewers look for the answers regarding how it ended which is kind of a wide open for the discussions.I love modern sci-fi dramas, especially in the last one decade, I have been enjoying them a lot, which are highly intelligent yet casually narrated on the screen that anybody can understand easily. If you had liked films such as 'Coherence', 'Another Earth', 'Her', 'Melanchony' et cetera, then surely would have a good time with it.7/10

"To be bitter is to attribute intent and personality to the formless, infinite, unchanging and unchangeable void. We drift on a chartless, resistless sea. Let us sing when we can, and forget the rest." - H.P. Lovecraft This is a review of "Coherence" and "The One I Love", two very similar films, both featuring doubles, doppelgangers and unnerving, quasi science-fiction plots.Released in 2013, "Coherence" was written and directed by James Byrkit. It begins with a group of characters arriving at the home of Mike (Nicholas Brendon) and Lee (Lorene Scafaria), a married couple. Once at this home, strange occurrences begin to take place. Mobile phones begin to crack, electrical power is lost and a comet flies overhead. This comet, one guest with a keen interest in Quantum Physics suggests, is responsible for the aforementioned freak events.Whilst waiting for the return of electrical power, Byrkit's characters talk. We learn that one is an actor, and so often "pretends to be someone else". Another is a dancer who "lost her chance to be famous" after being "replaced by another dancer". Gradually we learn that each character nurses regrets, and bemoans various missed chances and missed opportunities.Slowly "Coherence" morphs into a horror story. With no electricity in their town, Byrkit's characters venture outside. They eventually stumble upon a home that resembles the one they just left. Even creepier, they begin to encounter replicas of themselves. Pretty soon Byrkit's entire film becomes awash with doubles and doppelgangers, these seemingly duplicated bodies shuffling about in the night like ghoulish apparitions."Coherence" offers a science-fictional explanation for these strange occurrences. The comet, we learn, caused a "decoherence" which "opened up doors" to different, parallel universes. Through these "doors", different versions of our original characters stepped out of their universes and into our own. When the comet disappears, realty will achieve "coherence" and "collapse" back into "one single reality". It is therefore important that all doppelgangers are returned to their own worlds.Stories about parallel universes are common in science-fiction. What "Coherence" does differently is present characters who harbour an intense hatred for their duplicates, triplicates and quadruplicates. Almost every character in "Coherence" despises their world, despises their life, despises their friends and is intensely jealous of the greener pastures upon which they believe their "alternative versions" are living. "Coherence" thus climaxes with several characters plotting against their namesakes and scheming to escape to an alternative universe."Coherence" works best as a horror movie. Its middle sections are creepy, surreal, and make good use of low lighting, grainy film stock and naturalistic, improvised dialogue. During these portions, the film evokes Lovecraft, Lynch and Kafka, and conveys well the horror of a kind of quotidian breakdown. It offers what many deem the highest form of horror: the horror of reality itself being disrupted by something unimaginable, unnatural and inexplicable.Except "Coherence" goes to great lengths to be explicable. To its detriment, the film's final portions hammer home its themes, symbols and metaphors. What was once creepy and disturbing, thus morphs into a very heavy-handed and ultimately trite melodrama about regret.Directed by Charlie McDowell, "The One I love" (2014) approach's "Coherence's" story from a slightly different angle. Its opening scenes introduce us to Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elisabeth Moss), a husband and wife who spend several days holidaying at a secluded estate. At this estate the couple encounter duplicates of themselves. Like in "Coherence", these duplicates offer idealised versions of "reality". They're cooler, smarter, sexier and conform to various appealing masculine and feminine stereotypes. As the film progresses, Sophie and Ethan begin to fall in love with the duplicates of their spouses. Like the heroes of "Coherence", they reject their old lives in favour for "new lives" with "better copies". These idealised versions are docile, responsive and willingly cater to every physical and emotional need. In a sense, they are one dimensional robots, completely without desires, flaws or foibles of their own. They're clean. Sanitized. Appealing.Of course it takes a brave film to advocate trading your spouse for a slavish love-bot, and so Sophie and Ethan eventually reject the doppelgangers; the messy realities and irrationalities of animal relations are ultimately too appealing for our couple."The One I Love" isn't as creepy or as unnerving as "Coherence". Where "Coherence" is dark and claustrophobic, "Love" is bright, sleek and spacious. Where "Coherence" adopts horror movie codes, "Love" is primarily a comedy-drama with slight horror elements. Original and well-written, both use science-fiction conventions to delve into the nature of desire and regret, their characters all pining for pastures never met.8.5/10 – See "The Centre of the World" (2001).