As
a family of academics, it is not surprising the Whytes are prone to depression
and dysfunctional insecurities. At least they have a good reason. While still a
young boy, Erol’s father mysteriously vanishes while attending a theoretical
physics conference. His absence continues to haunt Erol and his mother, but the
son might be able to fix his broken family by reconstructing his father’s time
travel research in Richie Mehta’s I’ll
Follow You Down (trailer
here), which
opens this Friday in the Tri-State Area.
Gabe
Whyte’s luggage remained in his Princeton hotel room, but no trace could be
found of the Toronto scholar. His wife Marika never really recovered from the
loss. Arguably though, some good came out of the misfortune, from Erol’s
perspective. While his mother was away searching for his father, the young boy
forged a deep bond with Grace, his childhood sweetheart. In fact, they are
poised to get married after their undergrad studies, until his mother finally
succumbs to her depression.
As
he mourns his mother, Whyte starts to reconsider his Grandpa Sal’s crazy
claims. The good professor is convinced Gabe developed a method of time travel,
journeying through a wormhole to have a discussion with Einstein, presumably
meeting with misadventure somewhere along the way. However, it will take more
than a garden variety genius like Prof. Gramps to replicate his work. Only an
exceptional mind like Erol’s is equal to the task. The upside for his family
will be profound if Whyte can save his father, but what will happen to his
relationship with Grace?
Follow definitely has
its cerebral side, which is a good thing, but it is also unusually emotionally
mature for science fiction. Instead of speculating about the Butterfly Effect
and how it might alter macro history and technology, Mehta focuses on how it could
transform the Whyte family. As a result, it is not nearly as intricately
constructed and gleefully mind-blowing as Nacho Vigalondo’s Timecrimes or Hugh Sullivan’s The Infinite Man, but its time shifting
business still holds together pretty well.
As
a misfit genius, The Sixth Sense’s
Haley Joel Osment makes a convincing misfit. The genius part requires a bit
more willful suspension of disbelief. He more or less keeps his head above
water, but it is far certain whether Follow
will herald a major career comeback. Wisely, he is surrounding by a quality
supporting cast with serious genre cred. Alias’s
Victor Garber is on familiar turf as the decent mentoring grandfather, but
he is still a reassuring presence. Rufus Sewell makes intelligence charismatic
as the temporally misplaced Whyte, while The
X-Files’ Gillian Anderson is surprisingly compelling as miserable mother
Marika.
