I See You (2019)

Directed by: Adam Randall | 98 minutes | crime, drama, thriller | Actors: Helen Hunt, Jon Tenney, Judah Lewis, Owen Teague, Libe Barer, Gregory Alan Williams, Allison Gabriel, Erika Alexander, Jennifer Grace, Adam Kern, Riley Caya, Sam Trammell, Nicole Forester, John Newberg, Teri Clark, Jeremy Gladen , Wyatt McClure, Brooks Roseberry

Helen Hunt was one of the leading actresses of the 1990s. In particular with the comedy series “Mad About You”, which ran from 1992 to 1999, and with films such as Jan de Bont’s ‘Twister’ (1996), the great ‘As Good As It Gets’ (1997), ‘Pay It Forward’ (2000), ‘What Women Want’ (2000) and to a lesser extent ‘Cast Away’ (also from 2000) because her role is logically limited, Hunt was in the spotlight. Her role in the modern classic ‘As Good As It Gets’ even earned her and her co-star Jack Nicholson Oscars. But the twenty-first century had barely begun when Hunt was somewhat forgotten. Like many actresses in Hollywood, she experienced a decline in the number of interesting roles after her 35th birthday. Hunt had a child in the meantime and saw the lack of work as a great opportunity to focus on raising her daughter. Partly for this reason, her honors list counts only eleven titles between 2004 and 2017 – and not the most appealing. What you often see with Hollywood actresses, when their child is big enough to be able to take care of themselves a little, that they are willing to take drastic measures to be able to (continue to) compete with the younger generation of movie stars: plastic surgery, botox, liposuction and more agents to camouflage aging. Sometimes that works out well, but much more often it is a shock when you see the actress in the picture again.

Helen Hunt also fell for this trap with open eyes. In the exciting thriller ‘I See You’ (2019) you need some time to get used to her new face. That is quite distracting in the first ten to twenty minutes. Fortunately, inexperienced British director Adam Randall and Devon Graye, an actor with a modest track record who makes an excellent screenwriter debut here, with an unconventional narrative structure and a suspenseful story where one twist follows another, quickly regain focus. to bring to the movies. ‘I See You’ opens immediately with an intriguing image: a boy of about twelve is cycling on an atmospheric forest path on his way home when he is suddenly lifted into the air by an invisible force and disappears. Are we dealing with a supernatural phenomenon here? Experienced detective Greg Harper (Jon Tenney) and his colleague Spitzky (Gregory Alan Williams) are put on the disappearance case of this Justin Whitter; they immediately see parallels with a series of similar cases that plagued the dormitory town a few years ago, but the perpetrator is under lock and key. Have they caught the wrong culprit or is there a copycat active? At home, Greg struggles with his own troubles: his wife Jackie (Helen Hunt) has cheated on her, but regrets her crooked skate. Greg isn’t ready for that yet, and their teenage son Connor (Judah Lewis) is clearly siding with his father. Meanwhile strange things are happening in the house: the cutlery drawer is suddenly empty, photos disappear from their frames and electronic devices spontaneously switch on or off. What is going on and what does this have to do with the disappearance of young Justin?

‘I See You’ is typically one of those films about which it is better to know as little as possible in advance: leave trailers and reviews (except of course those reviews that don’t reveal too much about the plot, like this one) to the left as much as possible, because that takes away a lot of the viewing pleasure. What we can say is that halfway through the film, Randall and Graye dare to make the brave choice to tell their story from a new perspective, which logically leads to new insights on what we have seen before. That approach is daring, because some viewers may fall for the fact that they are presented with the same events twice, just slightly different. In this case, however, this move works out very well, because the story takes a completely different turn. It makes this film more of a thriller than a horror film and therefore more suitable for a wide audience. Incidentally, as a viewer you get a few more violent twists and turns that keep you on the wrong track. Just when you think you know what’s going on and what’s going to happen, things turn out slightly differently. Thrillers are usually not the genre in which you encounter fully detailed characters and that is not the case here either. There is little credit to be gained for the actors in that regard, although the acting in general can be called absolutely solid. Only poor Helen Hunt’s face isn’t it…

‘I See You’ turned out quite nicely, especially considering the limited budget, the only twenty shooting days and the inexperienced talents at the helm. Enter this solid but entertaining thriller without expectations and be surprised by the inventive story structure, the surprising twists and the compelling intrigue in a dormitory town in Ohio.