I hope this Film gets a lot more great reviews because I think it deserves them!
The story was great and not at all cheesy as it could have been. The actors perform amazingly. It is shot very well and the editing is very flawless. No boring parts very well paced. The music is nice aswell.
I completely agree, i am unsure how the imdb system works, as all the ratings of the people who bothered to write a review are 7+ stars
shareToo high, it's TV movie quality
shareAll the drawn out relationship stuff was very made-for-TV. Osment and his girlfriend were unappealing characters, yet we get about an hour of them mooching about their emotional issues before we see any of the time travel stuff that the movie keeps promising with vague talk of wormholes and montages of formulas being scribbled on blackboards.
Then when they do go back in time and it looks like they might get to meet Einstein, he's out. Dammit!
Because the movie is more about relationships than time travel. That's where the line is drawn on who gets this movie being good and those who don't. It's a movie about loss with time travel in the back ground.
shareI just watched it. Rating max 4. Just does not make sense. Execution was poor.
And that shooting of self in head was something stupidest.
Whole movie played on viewers emotions. Losing unborn child - then son immediately continues work on time machine - it was just total primitive.
People without logic and sense for complex situations should not make movies about scientists.
Cheap, short, slow, boring and with total stupid message. You can do research and care about beloved ones - that was even told about father in movie.
LOTS OF SPOILERS BELOW!
Personally, I agree with the rating of "4". But it could have been better.
It had too many slow, drawn out conversations that never went anywhere. The ending and ultimate "solution" were far too rushed. Playing up the father being dead-set on continuing his mission and promoting time travel to the scientific community seemed far too illogical and short-sighted for someone that bright, especially when he just had his own son travel back in time to stop him doing just that.
Perhaps that's where the Einstein plot could have resolved - they actually do get a meeting with him, and Einstein tells the father in no certain terms to destroy his technology and never use it again (and that Einstein already HAS the technology!)
Also, the double impetus points felt redundant and completely transparent. I knew his mother committing suicide would drive him to work on the project (don't think they were hiding that one), just as I knew his girlfriend predictably getting pregnant would cause him to waver in his resolve. And since we know they can't end the movie like that, something is going to happen to his baby or girlfriend to push him back... and it does. I'd almost rather it had been handled where he'd have to make a very difficult moral choice between continuing his current life with his new baby and happy girlfriend, or take a gamble on saving his family and childhood but possibly losing out on the love of his life, instead of having his answer handed to him on a silver platter.
watch for the spoilers. if you've read this far i assume you've seen the movie.
this movie was right on point with capturing the spirit of a driven genius. for a genius, family is important but almost not as important as his work. let's not be ridiculous here, this guy discovered TIME TRAVEL folks! It's not going to be that easy to convince the guy who discovers time travel NOT to go and see Einstein. I mean hello! It's Einstein... this is the guy's superhero. Nothing short of suicide would convince him to change his mind...
It was great movie but short , i just wanted more .
sharei gave it a 7 just now. i am not a fan of osment, but of anderson and sewell. i agree, it was very well shot, the look is really great, and i did certainly not see that ending coming ... although i should have, because erol did the only thing he was sure would get his father to go back immediately and not delay.
certainly a movie worthy of your time and money.
This film is far more intelligent, well-thought out and measured for it's own good. I've seen many reviewers here criticize the movie based on elements which are in fact positives, not negatives. This is not your typical over-exaggerated telling of a story, and both the time-travel and the relationship aspects were handled realistically...something which for the average viewer used to more bloated and hyperbolic fare is not a cause for distaste.
In short, I blame the palate, not the meal, nor the chef. Like 2007's 'A Man From Earth', the film treats a deep subject with the seriousness and straight-face it deserves, with a grasp of both the science and humanity involved which many more 'entertaining' movies lack. 'I'll Follow You Down' is not for everyone, much like Shakespeare is not for everyone...and while I certainly would not put the two works in the same category, they are both very much not for general consumption.
I guess I don't even understand how someone couldn't love this. I mean sure, you can nitpick about some of the lines regarding the science being off, but...
Literally the worst thing I can say about it is I wish there was more...I'd love to see what happened after the second to last scene, I'd love to see how things play out after the last scene.
I had forgotten about "A Man From Earth". That was excellent too.
Primer was as well.
I've seen a ton of really awesome lower budget films the past few years that SHOULD get way more attention than they have.
Agreed. It was very well executed and it is definitely a thinking man's movie. I enjoyed it very much and it was great to Haley Joel Osment back on screen. And as always, Gillian Anderson delivered perfectly. I definitely give it a strong 3 out of 4 stars and have recommended it to numerous friends.
shareOH come on, "Man From Earth" had far better acting, and was not trying to tackle a subject that would require a bigger budget. It also had a premise that made it interesting enough to be sitting in a room watching people asking the same questions we all might be asking, so the fact that it never had other locations or special effects wouldn't matter.
With this, we watch scene after scene of him and his girlfriend that went on far too long, building the machine took far too long, and then getting back in time is only brief, and pointless, and likely, due to budget, which is why you don't try to tackle this subject on a low budget.
Seriously? I rented this cuz I like sci-fi stuff and I figured I'd like to see the "6th Sense" kid get a chance to break out of the shadow of his childhood, but geez, this was amateur night all the way.
Rufus Sewell seemed like he just wanted to say his lines and go home, this Osment fella was definitely a better actor as a kid than now or maybe he just wasn't given a good script/director here, the grandpa, not sure of the actors name off-hand, but he's a solid character actor I generally like but he didn't seem to care much either.
The only one who seemed to be really trying at all was the girlfriend, not to say I liked her character either, but she at least seemed to be taking her job seriously.
But then the story, just, blah. I wasn't aware the entire film was going to be about BUILDING a time machine, rather than actually traveling through time. I actually do agree with you on the music tho, it was surprisingly "epic" for the mundane scenes it was forced to be in.
Again, because the movie is more about relationships than time travel.
shareOsment was excellent. The entire cast was top notch.
shareRufus Sewell seemed like he just wanted to say his lines and go home, this Osment fella was definitely a better actor as a kid than now or maybe he just wasn't given a good script/director here, the grandpa, not sure of the actors name off-hand, but he's a solid character actor I generally like but he didn't seem to care much either.