Time travel movies are awesome. Their very nature means that the dramatic possibilities are endless. There’s the pursuit of happiness, the danger of disaster, the ethical and moral quandaries, the psychological challenges, the existential questions, and the up-close look at the fabric of the universe. From this selection of ingredients, great cinema can be made – and that’s exactly what we’re hoping for with I’ll Follow You Down.
It’s a mistake to label this as part of a sudden re-emergence for Haley Joel Osment – Oscar-nominated child star of The Sixth Sense and A.I Artificial Intelligence. He never really disappeared. He just took himself off in a direction many weren’t expecting – namely voice work and video games. This was possibly a smart move on his part – stepping off-screen for that awkward child-to-adult phase that seems to trip so many young movie performers up these days. But, now he is more frequently stepping back in front of the camera and, by the look of the trailer for I’ll Follow You Down, he’s still got it.
The film is written and directed by Richie Mehta (Siddharth), and stars Osment as a young college student who begins to re-visit the circumstances of his father’s disappearance, many years previously. His father (Rufus Sewell) was a talented young scientist, and when the son applies his own scientific talent to investigating what his father may have achieved, staggering truths are uncovered. The film also stars Gillian Anderson as Osment’s mother (though it may take some time for the very real mathematics of that casting to settle in with X Files fans), and Victor Garber as a fellow scientist.
What is fascinating about this project – based on the trailer below – is that the story seems to attack the concept of time travel from an unusual angle. Sure, there’s the ‘searching for the lost father’ thing, and the ‘son finishing the work of the Dad’ stuff. There’s even the ‘chase through the mists of time’. However, the pioneer in this case – Rufus Sewell – has already gone. These characters are living in the aftermath. Has their timeline been irrevocably altered in a negative way? How would they know? What if things were supposed to be different?
The dramatic possibilities certainly are endless, and with Osment apparently on form, I’ll Follow You Down will most definitely be worth carving out some time for when it opens in selected theatres – and on iTunes – on June 6th, 2014.
