Movie Breakdown: I’ll Follow You Down

People are doing traditional-style reviews all over the web, so we decided to try something different.  In each “breakdown” we’ll take a look at what a film’s marketing lead us to believe, how the movie actually played, and then what we learned from it all.  Read on!

The Impression:

HALEY JOEL OSMENT IS BACK in what appears to be a film about a fella trying to figure out whether or not his father was a time traveler.

The Reality:

There’s a nice handful of things worth liking in I’ll Follow You Down.  The main cast of Gillian Anderson, Rufus Sewell, Victor Garber, Sarah Manninen and Haley Joel Osment all turn in good work.  Also,  I thought the film’s plot was solid – a brilliant young man works diligently with his grandfather to attempt to eliminate the alternate timeline that he believes he and his family have been stuck in since his father mysteriously disappeared.

Unfortunately though, these two sizable good parts are pulled down by some very mediocre direction from Richie Mehta.  I’ll Follow You Down is a film that almost seems bored with the story it’s telling, which is pretty odd considering it contains a lot of scenes that feature grand realizations and time travel-oriented discoveries.  I never felt any sort of excitement or wonder with anything happening on the screen, and I think it’s largely because Mehta just never does anything with the material.  It’s like he directed the entire movie with a firm “why does this matter” face on.

You could do a lot worse than I’ll Follow You Down, but I don’t know if that’s reason enough to seek it out.

The Lesson:

Good direction is important.

I’ll Follow You Down will be available on VOD on June 6.