In Your Eyes (2014)

In Your Eyes is an excellent romantic comedy with good performances, perfect direction and an ingenious premise which is well raised and developed. Fortunately, this movie counted with the presence of the great Joss Whedon as a screenwriter, executive producer and mastermind behind this movie's surprising debut and eventual direct digital distribution (through Vimeo), completely eliminating the influences and traditional processes of Hollywood's big studios. Whedon is experienced in this kind of shunting (let's remember the brilliant mini-series Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog), but it still is a very interesting market experiment which could inspire other filmmakers to do something similar. Well, Whedon isn't the first one to skip the "official" distributors; however, he might be the first famous producer who dared to do that; and of course, he can take that risk thanks to the legions of fans who will always support his projects. But, leaving all that aside, I liked In Your Eyes very much. Thanks to the solid performances and perfect direction, the screenplay flows with naturalness despite its unusual premise, and its fantasy tone never feels forced, and it doesn't require any complicated explanations in order to justify its existence; on the opposite, it immediately becomes an integral part of the story and contributes to the main characters' growth, with whom we share the mystery, curiosity and revelations of their mental (spiritual?) linking. That warm and comfortable dynamic is among the best elements from this movie. On the negative side, some elements from the screenplay in the last half hour feel a bit unnecessary. However, that's a minor fail, and it was a pleasure for me to explore a funny, emotive and unexpectedly fresh narrative in a genre which seemed exhausted and incapable of producing new mechanics for the romance. Michael Stahl-David and Zoe Kazan are completely credible in the leading roles, and director Brin Hill made an excellent work handling unusual situations while never losing the human axis of the story. In Your Eyes might depict a "long distance" relationship, but it's much more sincere and passionate than any romantic comedy based on cloying feelings and "big gestures". And besides, we can see it in any part of the world for five dollars. Will Whedon do the same with Avengers: Age of Ultron? Of course not, because it won't be his decision; but I would like to see someone trying this with a blockbuster.