The One I Love

   I don't remember who recommended this movie to me, but I owe them a big thanks, and I owe myself a kick in the butt for not getting around to it sooner. The One I Love is pretty fantastic. I gotta be real careful what I say about it here too because I went into the movie with only the most basic, fundamental concept of what I was going to see, and anything more would've cheated me out of part of the surprise. This is just one of those movies you have to see for yourself.

   The movie is about a couple who are having marital issues, and they've going to couples counselling. The therapist ends up sending them on a vacation to this little getaway to try and work out their issues. Things seem to be off to a good start, until things get bizarre. Really bizarre. And, that's all I can say! The movie is kinda hard to classify when it comes to picking a genre too. It's definitely no one genre, but I'd say the most apt classification is probably romantic dramady? I know that probably doesn't help, but the movie also kinda has a sci-fi twist to it as well. I'm kicking myself again even telling you that, but whatever helps you to actually see the movie!

   The cast is literally only three people big, but it's a solid cast nevertheless. I know Mark Duplass from Safety Not Guaranteed, and I know he was in Zero Dark Thirty, but I haven't seen that yet. He was good enough in Safety' that I was looking forward to seeing what he'd do here, but I wouldn't really consider myself a 'fan' of the guy's stuff. I guess him and his brother, Jay, do a lot of "mumblecore" movies, which... is really not my cup of tea. According to the list on Wikipedia I haven't seen any actual mumblecore movies. I don't really plan to either. But, anyways, Duplass isn't doing any mumblecore shtick here.

   Mark is convincing as a slightly insecure guy named Ethan who's trying to salvage his relationship with his wife, but despite his good intentions he has no idea what he's doing wrong. He's all elbows when interacting with her. His wife, Sophie, played by Elisabeth Moss is reluctant but ultimately decides to go along with the getaway idea. She just wants things to go back to the way they were but without things getting stale. She wants new experiences. Boy, is she about to get what she asked for. Anyways, the movie is visually pretty standard, it's not an overly stylish movie, but the score is pretty fun. The writing is also really solid.

   This movie is absolutely a multiple-watch flick. I have a feeling so much symbolism and meaning went clean over my head this time. Everything was brought into focus by the ending, and even now I'm going "oh man..." because throughout the movie there was little things that tip the viewer off to the larger themes at play in the movie. The movie is steeped in duality and the concept of self identity, and for what it's worth it's a really good movie. It's a character driven movie, so I think it'd be a bit inaccurate to say it has a slow build, but by that note it does have a pretty excellent climax. I looked at my watch halfway through the movie, which is never a good sign, but not five minutes later I was so engrossed in the movie I realized my brow was furrowed so hard it hurt. Ow.

   The One I Love isn't for everyone, and that's unfortunate because it's a refreshingly original flick with lots of genuine emotion and solid acting. It's fun, mysterious, engaging, relatable and at times even a bit heartbreaking. In short? It's really damn good, and you should see it. Okay? Okay.