Charlie McDowell
10 connections found
Filmography
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Connections, in both directions
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Directed by Michel Gondry
influenced The Discovery (2017)
Plot Themes
The Discovery is a poor, albeit ambitious, imitation of the superior Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind .
By the time the film ends, it arrives at what feels like a slower, more self-important afterlife of “Black Mirror,” “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and McDowell’s better, similarly high-concept “The One I Love.”
The Discovery reminds you of various recent/not-so-recent grounded-yet-intellectual high-concept thinkers like Another Earth , Vanilla Sky, The Lobster and, most especially, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind , which is unquestionably a major influence here.
I’ll not say what happens from there, other than it sets in motion a fascinating albeit sometimes convoluted journey that reminded me a little of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and a little of “Vanilla Sky” — though in many instances, it felt like its own original and new and fresh creation.
They’re the only two passengers on a ferry surrounded by frigid water, and their meet-cute hums with the same off-kilter electricity that galvanized the lovers from “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
Part Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, part Flatliners , The Discovery uses a dark sci-fi premise to explore those big existential questions.
By turns resoundingly human and regretfully half-baked, the film wears its influences on its sleeve, beginning with a brilliant prologue that recalls the opening sequence of “Children of Men.” Doctor Thomas Harber (Robert Redford, commanding in his small but vital role) is introduced on a television monitor, a mediated version of himself flickering on the screen.
It’s an elegiac world, recalling Alfonso Cuarón’s similarly subdued Children of Men .
"The Discovery" has a lot of interesting ideas (mostly reminiscent of the 1990 film "Flatliners"), but the plot struggles to make any headway, as though it's trying to move through mud.
I’ll not say what happens from there, other than it sets in motion a fascinating albeit sometimes convoluted journey that reminded me a little of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” and a little of “Vanilla Sky” — though in many instances, it felt like its own original and new and fresh creation.
Shot by Doug Emmett ( The One I Love , 2014; Sorry to Bother You , 2018), who tends to showcase Pike’s penchant for supreme, chilly villainy, I Care A Lot is a black comedy about capitalism’s favorite progeny – human predators.
In 2012, the neatly executed Ruby Sparks suggested it’s a format that can still work its charms and, like Ruby Sparks, this is a romance where metaphor is cleverly made literal: Without giving too much away, let’s just say that this magical place allows each spouse to commune with a perfected version of the other.
The director’s third feature plays up the Hitchcock aesthetic big time in its marketing, but tonally it feels even more adjacent to Rian Johnson’s bouncy recent works of mystery thrills, The Brothers Bloom and, especially, Knives Out .
But the film should also attract fans of smart, low-budget sci-fi, drawing comparisons to recent works such as The One I Love and Marjorie Prime .
Love is a many splintered thing in The F Word, If I Stay and The One I Love, three movies opening this week where the paths to romance are broken steps into the unknown.
Elisabeth Moss (from “Mad Men” and who was in another mirror-image thriller, The One I Love ) and Tim Heidecker ( The Trial ) are Kitty and Josh, and boy, are they annoying.
The actress, oddly enough, starred with Mark Duplass in 2014's The One I Love , which also involved a vacation house and mysterious doppelgängers.
Cinephiles will also notice shades of Don Siegel’s “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” (1956), Michael Bay’s “The Island” (2005) and Charlie McDowell’s “The One I Love” (2014), which fittingly starred Elisabeth Moss (“Mad Men”) in a double role.
Si bien el motivo del doble es un clásico, lo habitual es seguir la vía Dostoyevski y centrarse en la inquietud sufrida por el original; pocas veces, como en la genial The One I Love –donde también brilla Elisabeth Moss–, se considera el punto de vista de la copia.
The biting boisterousness of Us often comes forth from the dual performances of the core ensemble, which also includes The Handmaid’s Tale Golden Globe winner Elisabeth Moss (who has dove into doppelgangers before with the underseen and highly recommended Netflix gem The One I Love ) and Tim Heidecker of Tim and Eric comedy fame as the Wilsons’ more well-offed and prissy neighbors.