Review of Everything Will Be Fine

Russell Crowe once starred in a movie called A Beautiful Mind. The story arc here is not unlike that. That's a spoiler I know, so I'll be sure a tick the Yes box down below. Wherein A Beautiful Mind (2000) the viewer is compelled at first to follow the high-tension and highly engaging conspiratorial plot through much of the film before we learn the truth, Everything Will Be Fine follows a slightly different path, and is somewhat harder to watch. Be assured the high tension is there, but irritatingly it's tied to an increasingly unstable and distraught protagonist, whose behaviour is so wildly and strangely illogical you have trouble sympathising with him. He's almost instantly possessed and unreasonable. He's weird to his wife, abrupt with his sister, cursory and difficult with people trying help him, so dismissive of his important work colleague, that you just want to hit him. As a contrast, there was a second timeline running with the main one, explaining the source of all the trouble, and the guy in that at least didn't lose his marbles at the drop of a hat. This second guy was in almost the same situation and certainly the same danger. Then, suddenly, 10 minutes before the end, the penny drops, and you see a completely new timeline, six months before. I appreciate that the filmmaker here is trying to double the tension and create a seismic gravity shift to surprise and stun his audience. What is created is indeed a disturbed feeling of an evil being triumphant, and thus culturally achieving in most viewers a better appreciation of an important and difficult issue, which is admirable. I will certainly remember this movie, it did entertain though was far from an easy ride, and in that the filmmaker here has made a significant mark in the world. It's a pretty good thriller all up, and worth a look, but if you find yourself scratching your head at any point, rest assured, you're not the first one.