‘Do I Know You From Somewhere?’ movie review: a weird but entertaining romance flick
A romance that plays with the concept of destiny and soul mates is meshed with an unpredictable science-fiction tale involving parallel timelines in the odd and poignant Do I Know You From Somewhere?. This first feature by television director Arianna Martinez, who also co-wrote the screenplay, keeps the audience on their toes by presenting the story as a slowly unfolding mystery, one that we solve along with the characters. As director Martinez explains, “I’ve mixed the strange with the familiar to make a break-up story like you’ve never seen before.”
The central character, Olive, is perfectly played by stage actress and performance artist Caroline Bell in her first film role. Young Olive and her amiable husband Benny (Ian Ottis Goff) begin to experience minor but baffling changes in their life. Household items disappear or are replaced by new and unfamiliar ones.
Their mutual memories become confused or lost altogether, while glimpses of unfamiliar people and places appear in their minds in absent moments. The script uses a non-linear plot to display what is necessary, the dynamic of the couple’s relationship, and the strange events they are encountering, without being limited by a conventional storyline, a technique that works well.
As the couple work together to explain these strange events, the film moves on to a lengthy flashback, which portrays the couple’s meeting, their early relationship, and their marriage. Their story manages to avoid standard romance clichés but is funny and charming and expands on their contrasting personalities before allowing them to return to the mystifying puzzle of their shifting reality. Later, scenes from a parallel past serve to clarify what is really going on.
The film maintains a perfect pace, keeping up the suspense as clues appear while also filling in the blanks regarding Olive and Benny and their relationship. We come to understand the young couple better as they struggle to work out what is happening and deal with the fractured timeline they seem to be living in.
Clues are inserted into the story, such as a flashback of a younger Olive trying to select her university courses and becoming frozen with indecision out of fear of making the wrong choice. When a stranger appears who seems to know Olive (Mallory Amirault), the alternate reality plot intensifies and finally comes to a conclusion that is at once a happy ending and a moving tragedy—along with a wonderfully well-chosen cut to black at a very key moment.
Despite the limited release since its premiere at the Toronto Film Festival, Do I Know You From Somewhere? is an impressive start for novice filmmaker Martinez and is a well-made, weird, but entertaining multifaceted drama.
