Movie Review: All I See is You

 Spoiler alert: This review contains plot spoilers.

The only thing I knew about “All I See is You” was that it starred Blake Lively and she was playing a woman who was blind. Oh and that she wore seven different outfits in one day (total Serena van der Woodsen move) while promoting the film. This act alone made me want to see it. But going into this movie, I didn’t know what to expect.

The film is about a woman named Gina (Lively) who got into a car accident when she was a child with her parents. Her parents didn’t make it, but she and her sister did, although it left her with only five percent vision. As an adult, Gina is living with her husband James (Jason Clarke) in Bangkok.

One night, Gina gets a call from her doctor that there was a last minute cancellation for corneal surgery. The next day, she undergoes the operation. Now that Gina can see through her right eye again, she’s slowly beginning to realize that her marriage isn’t really what she thought it was.

The film, directed by Marc Forster (“World War Z” and “Monster’s Ball”) was visually stunning. Each shot was beautifully captured, whether it was of one of Gina’s kaleidoscopic fantasies, a dead bird in the fridge or a carcass in the middle of nowhere. Even a close-up shot of a face can take the audience’s breath away. Every time Gina would meet someone or see something pre-surgery, the screen looked like a hazy, water-colored trance similar to what it looks like when someone just took a steamy shower and takes a peek in the mirror shortly after.

The plot was highly unpredictabl, and there were definitely some unanswered questions as well as things that just didn’t add up. This left me trying to put together the missing pieces and assume. Like any twisted movie there was a little symbolism too, which is always fun but also distracting because it leaves you to wonder what it all meant.

However, one thing we do know is that Lively’s performance was surely a strong and believable one in her role. Playing a woman who is blind certainly is not an easy task to take on.

There were many questions left up to interpretation, which is exactly what I admired about the film. It felt like a work of art. I thought about it long after I saw it, which is when you know what you just watched was effective.

Even though critics didn’t have very nice things to say about the film, all I saw (I had to) was an alluring, twisted ride that was worth the watch, (and maybe a second watch just to make some sense out of it).

Rating: 3/5 Stars