Mind’s Eye

2014

Dean Cain as Mark Willis
Izzie Steele as Mattie Carver
Malcolm McDowell as Mr. Simms
Natalie Distler as Jess Selvy

Synopsis: Mattie is a high school student; she plays the violin in the orchestra (directed by the magical Malcolm McDowell). For some reason, Mattie’s music makes weird things happen. She starts to experience some crazy shit—people who appear and she talks to them, then they disappear; people possess specific personality traits and behavioral trends one day, then are someone else completely different the next. Apparently, the space/time continuum is bouncing around, and Mattie’s got to figure out why so things can get back to normal.

The Phoenix Film Festival has an educational outreach division, and the first day of that particular event was a meet-and-greet/Q & A session with filmmakers whose films were at the festival. The cinematographer for Mind’s Eye was at this particular day, and based on the trailer and her insights to the filmmaking process, I got pretty excited to see it. Bonus points for the sci-fi genre.

This film confused the hell out of me. There weren’t enough clear moments to answer all the questions, and they came up constantly during the screening. Why violins? Who are the guys in the suits? What’s with the creepy people congregated outside the church? Where the hell is the church?! I don’t know. It was mainly intriguing because of the cast, but I guess a lot can be said for acting with a great script. I didn’t like this one. Dean, Malcolm and company tried their hardest, but it was just blah.

Specific issues?

• Mattie’s character was pretty much Olive Penderghast from Easy A. Izzie sounds and looks like Emma Stone, which I supposed helps in some way, but I couldn’t stop comparing the two girls.
• Continuity. I know that the story is about the fabric of space and time tearing apart (like that?), but it jumped around SO MUCH. I felt like I was in the movie, and I was getting motion sickness. Confused. Just like Mattie. I finally gave up after about an hour of trying to stay on top of things and decided NOT to stick around for the post-film Q & A. They probably couldn’t have answered my questions anyway.

Weepy Meter: 0/10 Nah. Not a chance.

Man Meter: 3/10 Dean Cain. Sarcasm. Aaaaaaand…that’s about it.

Overall Rating: 2/10 Limited enjoyment. I like sarcasm. Since Mattie is basically Olive, there’s plenty of that. And I teach high school, so I like to see how closely teen movies resemble life. This one doesn’t.

Photo credit: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1877707/mediaviewer/rm2760439040