In Your Eyes
Dylan and Rebecca have a connection. They have since childhood. They see what the other one sees. They feel what the other one feels. They aren’t a couple, though; they live on the complete opposite ends of the country. They haven’t even met. And yet, the connection has continued throughout their adult lives, and it’s actually a very real, physical connection that has sometimes made life difficult for them. Now, it becomes something more, and they begin to communicate with one another.
This is the basic premise behind “In Your Eyes,” an emotional new film written by Joss Whedon, and directed by Brin Hill. It’s the second feature Whedon is releasing through his “micro-studio” Bellweather Pictures after last year’s Shakespeare adaptation, “Much Ado About Nothing.” Whedon might be a little too busy with being the Godfather of the Marvel Universe to have directed the film itself, but Hill (a screenwriter whose credits include “Won’t Back Down” and “Battle of the Year,” and who made his feature debut with “Ball Don’t Lie”) understands Whedon’s voice as only another writer could, and even if the results aren’t as inspired as “Firefly” or “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” or “The Avengers,” there’s something about it that’s just as special as those instant classics.
A big part of the reason the film succeeds are in the performances by Michael Stahl-David (as Dylan) and Zoe Kazan (as Rebecca). The actors have been stars before (him in “Cloverfield,” her in “Ruby Sparks”), but the material in this film brings something out of them that isn’t forced. This is genuine feeling they bring to these roles: first it’s anxiety and terror when unexpected things effect the other person; then a sense of relief and pleasure when Rebecca and Dylan begin to interact; then the inevitable second act complications when they’re connection begins to have an adverse effect on their individual lives (Dylan with his attempts to move beyond being an ex-con; Rebecca with her husband (Mark Feuerstein), leading to a third act where the characters are pushed to the extremes by people in their lives. Kazan and Stahl-David are fantastic in the roles, and display remarkable chemistry together. This is a rich, dynamic relationship between two people, hundreds of miles away from one another, who understand there’s a profound connection happening, even if they don’t understand why it’s happening. That’s not an easy thing to pull off, and Kazan and Stahl-David make it look as simple as breathing.
The most important part of the film’s success is that Whedon and Hill set it in reality. This isn’t a supernatural world like that Whedon created in “Buffy” or “Angel,” but a believable facsimile of our existing world. There’s only this one connection that Dylan and Rebecca have, that isn’t explained, that’s off, and how that connection interacts with, and causes problems within, Dylan and Rebecca’s lives is the source of the film’s biggest drama. As the story unfolds, and Dylan and Rebecca come to accept it, they have some tricky situations to deal with, but they embrace this part of themselves as much as they can, even if those around them are unable to understand it. That sense of reality is what distinguishes Whedon’s work from a lot of other filmmakers, even when the story he’s telling is outlandish and kind of crazy. Thankfully, with “In Your Eyes,” he has actors and a director who get his writing, and can breath life, energy, and feeling into it where others have just skimmed the surface. The end result is a film that, I suspect, will be remembered fondly at the end of the year, both by fans and critics alike.
