Movie Review: The Discovery

The Discovery ** / *****

Directed by: Charlie McDowell.

Written by: Justin Lader & Charlie McDowell.

Starring: Jason Segel (Will), Rooney Mara (Isla), Robert Redford (Thomas), Riley Keough (Lacey), Jesse Plemons (Toby), Mary Steenburgen (Interviewer), Ron Canada (Cooper), Richard O'Rourke (Marvin), M.J. Karmi (Janice), Paul Bellefeuille (Pat Phillips), Adam Khaykin (Oliver).

 

The key ingredient to the films of Charlie Kaufman – as both writer and director – than many of his imitators miss is humor.  If you are going to dive headlong into the human mind, and explore it, and identity, and what makes us human the way Kaufman does, you at least have to have the ability to laugh about it a little bit – that laughter will make the heady stuff go down easier. Charlie McDowell’s last film, The One I Love, which starred Mark Duplass and Elisabeth Moss as a couple who go to a cabin to try and repair their marriage, and find, well, something interesting there – had that humor, which is why that film remains an underseen gem. His new film, The Discovery, doesn’t have it – which is why the film is a morose bore.

 

The film takes place a few years after Thomas (Robert Redford) has scientifically proven that there is an afterlife – which has led to millions of suicides worldwide. Thomas doesn’t much care – he has retreated from the world, and now lives on a large compound with his son, Toby (Jesse Plemons) and his “followers”. Proving there is an afterlife isn’t enough for Thomas – he now wants to prove just exactly where it is we go after we die.

 

Yet, Thomas isn’t the main character in the film. That is Will (Jason Segel) – Thomas’ other son, estranged from him for a few years, now returning home, for reasons that never really become clear. On the fairy that leads to the small island where his father lives, he meets Isla (Rooney Mara), who is whatever the depressed version of a manic pixie dream girl is. The two hit it off, but go their own ways why they reach the island – but the next day, it is Will who comes to Isla’s rescue when she tries to commit suicide. He brings her back to the compound, where she’s interested in Thomas’ work – and decides to stay – as does Will.

 

The Discovery is a film that tackles big themes, but makes the mistake in thinking that because it does so, it has to be morose the whole time. Segel, primarily known as a comedic actor, but desperate to change that (his first step was in his not bad performance as David Foster Wallace in The End of the Tour, seems to think that being a serious actor requires you to be joyless in each and every scene you’re in. His Will is a monotone bore. The rest of the cast is better – Mara’s Isla doesn’t have much depth, but she gives her some anyway, and I quite liked Redford, who doesn’t sell you that what he’s saying is real, but does sell you on the fact that he believes it. Riley Keough, so good in American Honey last year, is very good in a small role her as well.

 

The Discovery also tries hard to stack one narrative twist and turn on top of another, so that by the time the end comes – which is specifically designed to blow your mind – you’re on to the films tricks, and they no longer work on you. I think that McDowell is a talented writer/director – The One I Love showed that – but The Discovery is a pretty big misfire for him. The film was is desperate need of some humor – or some life.

Movie Review: The One I Love

The One I Love
Directed by: Charlie McDowell.
Written by: Justin Lader.
Starring: Mark Duplass (Ethan), Elisabeth Moss (Sophie), Ted Danson (The Therapist).

Spoiler Warning: The studio releasing The One I Love asked critics not to reveal the twist in the movie`s first act – which both makes sense and is pointless. It makes sense because the movie works better if you don’t know what’s coming – hell it would even better if you didn’t know there was a twist at all, but the cat`s out of the bag on that one. But it’s also pointless, because there is no intelligent way of talking about the movie at all, without talking about the twist – because it happens in the first act, its barely a twist at all, but really the premise of the movie. Still, I wanted to put the Spoiler warning in for those who have not seen the movie. You should – it`s a really good movie – but you also probably want to stop reading now if you want to see it. You`ve been warned.

The opening scenes of The One I Love play like any number of Indie dramas. A married couple is in therapy because they`ve reached an impasse in their relationship, and cannot figure out a past it. Their therapist (Ted Danson) suggests they get away for the weekend together – and even has a catalogue for the perfect getaway spot for them. They agree, and head off for the weekend. It is a gorgeous property – a great big house, a beautiful pool, a guest house and acres of wilderness around them. There is nothing for the two of them to do but spend time with each other. Perhaps this is what they need.

Before we hit the half hour mark though, the movie enters Twilight Zone territory (AGAIN SPOILER WARNING) – as the pair discover that the guest house actually does have guests in it – and not the normal kind. If just one of them enter the guest house, they will find a more perfect version of their spouse already there. At first, they just think it`s really their spouse, but then they both have strange experiences in there. And the spouse they meet in the house is seemingly a better version then the real one – less critical, less bitchy; more focused on their partners needs than the real version. Ethan (Mark Duplass) is immediately skeptical, and wants to know what the hell is going on. He questions everything to the point that the more perfect version of his wife creeps him out. But Sophie (Elisabeth Moss) starts to like the more perfect Ethan more. He`s more fun loving, more attentive, less sarcastic. It may be a fantasy version of Ethan – but she`s happier with the fantasy than the reality.

To a certain extent then, The One I Love is a puzzle movie – but it`s less concerned with the puzzle itself, than the relationship – and Ethan and Sophie`s different reactions to the possibilities the guest houses and its guests raises. For Ethan, he`s simply creeped out. Why would he want a copy of Sophie – even one who is less critical of him – when he could have the real Sophie? But for Sophie, the new Ethan is a reminder of the old Ethan – the fun loving guy she fell in love with, rather than the one who has lied to her and who she blames for the deterioration of their relationship.

The performances by the two leads are excellent. More than Moss, Duplass is essentially playing two different roles here – the skeptic, and the fun loving, care free one – and he does both very well. Moss is even better, even if she doesn’t play her own doppelganger as much, because what the real Sophie goes through is more complicated. She wants her life back to what it was – or perhaps even better than it was – and sees a way to get it. It doesn’t matter if she doesn’t understand it, she’s happier than she’s been in a while – and wants to stay that way. The One I Love is basically about the difference between the reality of what a long term relationship actually is, and the fantasy of what we want it to be. In reality, we are never given the choice between the two – but Sophie is presented with that choice.

 
The end of the movie works – but is also the most obvious ending given the setup that the filmmakers could have come up with. Personally, I always prefer a little ambiguity in a film like this, and the filmmakers behind the one I love – director Charlie McDowell and writer Justin Lader (both of whom show tremendous promise) don’t supply that. Instead, they wrap everything up in an obvious, yet effective way. Besides, I’m not sure there was a better way to end the film. The One I Love has a Twilight Zone premise to be sure – but like the best Twilight Zone episode it uses the premise for something deeper and more real than the premise suggests.