They say to never judge a book by its cover, but they never say not to judge a movie by its title. Last year I went to see Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person based solely on the title and I wound up loving it, so I tried again here with Do I Know You From Somewhere? A gripping title with a fascinating premise as well? Sign me up.
New Brunswick filmmaker Arianna Martinez has crafted something pretty special here with her debut, a film described by TIFF programmer Norm Wilner as "easier to experience than describe." To summarize it as simply as I can, the film follows Olive (Caroline Bell) and Benny (Ian Ottis Goff), a couple about to celebrate their anniversary who find pieces of their universe shifting and changing their history together. At first this is just a misplaced gift or a toy that neither of them knows where it came from, then escalates to far more meaningful changes.
Martinez's debut is very low budget. I won't lie, the limited budget and lack of experience shined through a lot in the early going to the point where I just struggled to connect with it. The acting has a theatrical quality to it that felt a bit inauthentic to me, and alongside the visuals underwhelming me there wasn't anything aside from the story for me to latch on to. Luckily this only gets better as it goes on, and as the film progresses Martinez feels more and more confident as a filmmaker as both the style and narrative get bolder and bolder. This story is a big swing and it manages to mostly stick the landing, delivering something that feels like it easily could have struggled to tie itself together but winds up hitting with a massive emotional punch. It truly winds up being a thematically beautiful movie, taking a premise that I thought could be fun and turning it into a rich look at relationships and the what ifs that come with them.
Caroline Bell is magnificent here. There are moments you can see her inexperience in front of the camera, but she radiates the screen so much that it's hard to care. She gives Olive so much charm and heart, managing to make you laugh and maybe even make you cry. I don't want to go too in depth at risk of spoiling the film, but this is a truly deep performance that I really loved. Ian Ottis Goff doesn't quite hit the highs that she does. There's a bit of an awkwardness to him that is almost certainly intentional, but at times just feels like he isn't fully comfortable in front of the camera. That being said, his chemistry with Bell is pretty great and a lot of the moments between them are just electric. Mallory Amirault is the next most noteworthy actor, and without spoiling who her character winds up being, she gave a really great performance.
I would absolutely urge people to give this a shot. Not only is it one of the best Canadian films we'll get this year, but it's a bold directorial debut with a ton of heart and some pretty rich themes. Wound up appreciating this one quite a bit. 3.5/5
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