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DVD I’ll Follow You Down
 Run time: 93 min Rating: 5.9 Genres: Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi Director: Richie Mehta Writers: Richie Mehta Stars: Gillian Anderson, Haley Joel Osment, Rufus Sewell |
| Storyline After the disappearance of a young scientist on a business trip, his son and wife struggle to cope, only to make a bizarre discovery years later – one that may bring him home. |
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| Plot Keywords: scientist, princeton university, miscarriage, missing father, blackboard | |
| Details: Country: Canada Release Date: 6 June 2014 (USA) |
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4 comments
"I'll Follow You Down" is that wonderful, inexpensive film you hope to see now and then which surprises the viewer with an explosion of talent from both sides of the camera. I am not going to go into the plot at all except to say that it involves the strong emotional relationships and motivations of people propelled into an off-center drama inspired by a science fiction story element.
The writer/director is Richie Mehta, who shows tremendous depth and common sense in his plotting and his characters' dialog, as well as in his non-gimmicky, straight-forward choice of how to use his camera to let the actors shine as they carry the story through to the last frame. I send kudos to Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell and Victor Garber for their "generosity towards up-and-coming film makers," in that they supplied wonderfully tuned supporting performances for what was likely very little income. Haley Joel Osment, who was a terrific child actor ("The Sixth Sense" and "A.I.") gives a rock-steady performance here as a multi-layered adult in his young twenties. If he gets the right future film choices, directed by people who correctly make use of his talent, he could become an A-List adult actor by his early thirties. In the meantime, try to catch this little gem of a movie whenever it is available as a theatrical, DVD and/or cable release.
Richie Mehta's sci-fi/drama "I'll Follow You Down" stars Gillian Anderson, Haley Joel Osment, Rufus Sewell, Victor Garber and Susanna Fournier in a slow, steady melodrama that revolves around a family's agony after the mysterious disappearance of the patriarchal character Gabe, a young physicist researching wormhole theory and time travel. Years later son Erol discovers that there may be a chance to chance history and restore the timeline if he can find his father out of finishing the research.
The story in "I'll Follow You Down" deals with a lot of science material tied together through emotional character study but you don't have to be a smarty to follow along. Maybe to argue the laws of physics and such one would need to bone up on wormhole theories, quantum physics & mechanics but most people will be drawn in by the character drama that unfolds in the film. The cast is top notch and give moving performances with no overdrawn grandiosity, just straight forward compassionate well developed characters that really make the story enjoyable. The sci-fi or scientific theory aspect of "I'll Follow You Down" is written more matter of fact and what I imagine would be elementary so a good foundation of "Star Trek" or other sci-fi knowledge really works well in that element of the material. I did phase out a bit over "time line corrections without complicating things" because that goes over my head, but I still found everything relatable without being too wordy.
There is very little special effects in the film, most things boil down to a standard musical score that pulls at emotional elements of the film, there is a small practical effect and lighting effect against props to sell the "time machine" aspect that works just fine and without overstating the moment. "I'll Follow You Down" is really a family drama that has some sci-fi attached to it but mostly it is a well directed, well acted and completely executed drama that is enjoyable to watch. I enjoyed the film, the cast was great. The story is sweat and Haley Joel Osment gives a a commendable performance.
"Your dad never broke a promise ever and the way he looked at me at the airport, it just looked like he knew something." Marika (Anderson) and Erol (Osment) kiss goodbye to their husband and father at the airport as he leaves for a conference in New Jersey for a few days. When he never returns they begin to worry, when no one can find him they fear the worst. 12 years later Osment is told a secret by his grandfather that may answer the question that has plagued the family for years. I had no idea what to expect from this when I started to watch it. I was interested almost right away but when the time travel thing came up I laughed a little. The more I watched the less absurd it sounded and that actually became the reason I was so sucked in. This is a movie that was actually able to stay one step ahead of the viewer the entire time. Just when you think you know what is going to happen it throws something at you that surprises you right up until the ending that is both shocking and perfect. This is the type of movie that after you watch it all you want to do is tell everyone you know to watch it. That is the beauty of lower budget films. There aren't many blockbuster movies you rave about and think wow my friends need to see this. Overall, this sucks you in and keeps you interested the entire time trying to predict what will come next. I give this a high B+.
"I'll Follow You Down" is a decent movie that contains pleasant actors. I didn't have much of a high expectation for this movie, nor did I know what it was about when I first saw it, but found myself involved with the story line as well as its characters. It's an adequate drama/mystery/time travel movie that has an overall good story development and message.
The movie centers a lot around family, and a mystery that has to do with a boy's missing father. Although the movie caught my attention from the beginning, I did find the middle part of the story a bit slow, but it got more interesting as the movie progresses – and it carried all the way through the rest of the movie. I recommend watching this if you're into a bit of time traveling, mystery, and drama.