All I See Is You

I had never heard of All I See Is You (2017) until the day I saw it. All I knew going in is that it was thriller about a blind woman who regains her sight to the dismay of her husband. And it takes place in Bangkok.

I think I accidentally walked into the other movie called All I See Is You (2017) because whatever I saw was not a thriller.

Blake's last name is the only
Lively thing in this movie.

All I See Is You is beautifully shot.

 Well, that’s about all the positives I have for this movie.

All I See Is You is very confusing movie. I spent the entire movie waiting for it to pick a genre or plotline and it never did. I took notes during the film (which is difficult in a dark theater). When I got home, I typed them out and I still have no idea what movie was about.

It starts with a kaleidoscope sex scene.

This synopsis began oddly.

My notes say "Worst opening sex scene since The Room." I can't make that comparison, though. All You See Is Me is competently made. I just dislike the directorial choices. 

Gina, the blind woman, and James, her husband are having sex. This is an artistic movie. The kaleidoscope images are supposed to be from Gina's point of view.  The images becomes much clearer through the movie as she starts to regain her sight. The sex scene in inter-cut with flashbacks of the car accident in which she lost her sight.

My notes are all out of order but it doesn't matter because the movies isn't very cohesive.

There’s a scene where she gets her period in the shower because so many bad movies want to remind me that I could be watching Carrie instead.

The doctor says that the operation can only restore her right eye, but there is a waiting list. However, he calls her the day before to tell her that there is a cancellation and they can operate on her. Thai healthcare must be very different from American healthcare.

After the operation, the doctor gives her eye-drops, emphasizing that she must take them regularly.  She is disappointed with how James looks and how their apartment looks.

The doctor also says it is okay for Gina and James to take a trip to Spain to visit family. Even though he told Gina to take eye-drops regularly and come in in case something goes wrong. Okay.

On the train, there is a bizarre scene straight out of 50 Shades of Grey where James is tied down and blindfolded and Gina has sex with him. It’s supposed to be a reversal of previous sex scenes where Gina couldn’t see, but James could. What kind of train allows this?

When they get to Spain, James doesn’t want Gina going out to clubs. The plot of this movie is “Guy doesn’t like his wife regaining her sight in case she starts flirting with hotter guys.” That could be a comedy, but this movie is genre-less.

Gina also goes to a peep show in Spain. Priorities.

Back in Bangkok, Gina flirts with a hot guy named Mike from the pool. Neither of the main characters is likable. Gina also dyes her hair blonde. This is the last straw for James, so he dumps out the eye-drops and replaces them with water. This could be a thriller, but this movie is genre-less.

Just take a moment to reflect that the catalyst for James to sabotage Gina's eyesight is that she dyed her hair blonde.

Gina loses her eyesight once again, so she brings the eye-drops into the doctor for testing and gets some samples. James discovers he is sterile. Gina announces she is pregnant. Uh-oh.

James drives away. Gina has the baby. She goes completely blind. Movie over.

I haven’t described all the random scenes in the movie. Such as:

1.  Gina teaches a young girl how to play the guitar for a talent show. However, she takes over the talent show and sings a song about James. Actual Lyric: “You can see the love in my heart, if you look into my eyes.” He runs out. So this is now Hamlet?

2.  Her sister’s husband dresses up like a mermaid. And this movie is almost two hours long.

3. They get a dog. Someone breaks into their apartment and takes the dog. He sends them a letter saying, essentially,  “Sorry, I have to keep the dog because I like it.”

4.  A bird hits the window. Gina takes it in and puts it in the freezer. Never mentioned again.

And probably more that I didn’t write down.

I haven’t described all the “artistic” scenes in this movie. Such as:

1. Sometimes there are shots of Gina swimming to represent her mood. If something good has happened, she swims quickly towards the surface. If something bad has happened, she sinks towards the bottom.  Really.

2. Gina and her young nephew and in a bath together. (Just don't question it.) She throws a sponge at the glass door and it falls down, leaving watery tracks. Cut to rain dripping down the windshield of a car.

3. Shot of a fishbowl. Cut to a shot of James eating a bowl of soup. Because both are bowls.

All I See Is You is a baffling movie. It contains so much and yet nothing really happens. I can’t even give a coherent synopsis. The dialogue is pretty bad, but the cinematography is beautiful.

 If you are going to have a blind women regain her sight, this is probably the best-looking movie for her to be in.

I watched the trailer after I saw the movie and it is quite amusing how hard it pushed the "thriller" genre.

There are a couple moments where All I See Is You tips into hilarity. Some of the dialogue, transitions, and irrelevant scenes are so bizarre that they are funny, But it's not worth sitting through the rest of the movie.

If you want to see a good story about a blind woman regaining sight through surgery, watch the Night Gallery episode Eyes. It's directed by Spielberg, stars Joan Crawford, builds towards a great twist ending, and doesn't start with a kaleidoscope sex scene,