five out of five stars

Charlie McDowell’s The One I Love, released on August 22, 2014, is one of the best dramedies (that’s drama and comedy, folks) I’ve ever seen. Imagine Twin Peaks blended together with The Twilight Zone. It’s quite clever.

So it starts off with Ethan (Mark Duplass) and Sophie (Elizabeth Moss) at an appointment with their marriage counselor, where they are confronted by the potential end of their troubled marriage. Their counselor sends them to an idyllic retreat home, where it’ll be “just the two of them,” in order to “reset the reset button.” While watching the first stream, it isn’t noticeable that their therapist uses these phrases intentionally and quite literally. Upon their arrival to their dreamy destination, they discover a guest house not too far away where strange events begin to unfold. It’s such an incredibly stark film to the point where it’s refreshing as well as disturbing sometimes. A combination I wasn’t wholly prepared for, but was glad to experience. There are many unique qualities to it that mesh so very well that it has my vote for the freshest idea for a film of 2014 (an award I made up, but is just as valid as the so-called “Oscar”).

If you want a little bit of romance, dark comedy, mystery, drama, and disbelief, it’s all neatly wrapped in this film. The One I Love is readily available on Netflix for your enjoyment. From start to finish, you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat, biting your nails, and desperately investing all of your emotions in the handful of characters present.