ALL OF YOU|A FOREIGN INDIE FILM THAT STILL FEELS FAMILIAR

All of you is a near-futuristic love story that takes place in the UK, involving a pair of good single friends who met in University, playfully complaining about not seeing their other friends since they’ve gotten married. It quickly becomes a story wherein Laura, the woman, takes a scientific test that is designed to match her with her soulmate.

From that point on, through time skips, we watch Laura and Simon, the man who is supposed to be her good friend, both pine for her, to the point wherein it ruins his relationship with a woman that the newly taken Laura set him up with, and bang her in secret, behind her husband Lucas’ back for years.

And, this film is one that I actually didn’t mind, especially when comparing the film to other romantic dramas. I hadn’t seen Imogene pots in anything in a while, so I was looking forward to seeing her performance in her role as Laura. The writing felt organic in a way that the writing in most films, even today, doesn’t bother trying to be. And I think the biggest reason for that is that Brett Goldstein, the Actor who plays Simon, co-wrote the script. And it shows, especially in the small writing.

The films structure is three Act, and by that I mean beginning, the introduction to the characters, Lamar’s taking the test, her meeting Lucas and Simon meeting Andrea, and then her breaking up with him because she realizes that he’s in love with Laura, the middle, that being Simon and Laura starting an affair after the death of Laura’s father, and then the end, when the pair separate for years, and then reconnect for one last goodbye. I say all of that to warn you that this film does not in fact save the cat.

I found the acting to be good, and I think that’s mostly due to how the film was written. I liked the fact that the main cast was relegated to essentially four actors, so despite the fact that the movie moves around location wise quite a bit (and the way the filmmakers utilize the locations that populate the world built in this story I found to be exquisite), it feels contained, so you can focus on the relationships between the characters, which in a film like this is really important.

But, nothing in a film like this is more important than how the story ends, and in a genre wherein the main theme tends to that love either conquers all or it doesn’t, the end of this story, though imperfect, to say the least, is both a relief and heartbreaking all at the same time.

Overall, I’d give this film a 75% (or a 7.5 if you’re thinking IMDb score), essentially a B- as a letter grade.

This film feels very indie, which is something I really liked. And, despite the story being one that takes place in countries I’m not culturally familiar with, the story still hits home in a way that feels familiar. And I think that’s the real point of movies like this, for you, the audience member to able to imagine yourself in the circumstances that the man or the woman in the story find themselves in, the pursuit of the love of another human being. And, in that regard, I think the film was successful, because, even though (spoiler), the two main characters don’t end up together, I think the filmmakers at least successfully make the point that, even with the advances in technology expected to be in use in the near future, when it comes to true love, the results of a diagnostic doesn’t trump what your heart ultimately tells you.

All Of You is available to stream on Apple TV+