One Eyed Girl (2013) User Reviews

LIKE A BROCHURE?

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 10 May 2018]

Travis (Mark Leonard Winter) is a psychologist who treats patients. He became too close to patient Rachel (Kate Cheel) who tried to walk on air. Feeling guilty he resorts to addictive pain killers, and ends up in a group run by Father Jay (Steve Le Marquand). He is attracted to Grace (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) who helps out. The group is run like a boot camp and a cult, as Father Jay treats the soul for the physical addiction. Travis has flashbacks to his painful times with Rachel and how he may have "pushed" her over the edge...figuratively speaking. About an hour into the film Travis has an epiphany which changes the direction of the film and in a way waking it up, unfortunately it was too little too late.

Film was pretty boring. You might want to take a pain killer to watch it. While addiction was part of the story, it doesn't really deal with the topic, it just uses it to weave a tale.

Guide: F-bomb, brief oral sex. No nudity.

why bother

[bmfer-1 · 4/10 · 29 December 2018]

If you're into watching weak minded people getting into a cult go ahead.

It's been done before and much better than this

[bob_meg · 2/10 · 14 December 2015]

I have to agree with one of the other reviewers that there isn't much, if anything, to recommend this by-the-books cult drama.

We have a chemically-dependent, terminally depressed young shrink (played convincingly enough by Mark Leonard Winter) whose young patient's suicide drives him over the edge, leading him into a cult-like EST-ish back-to-nature group led by Father Jay (Steve le Marquand).

Father Jay's group is all about getting "clear" (sound familiar?) and uses various punishing physical and mental techniques to supposedly "heal the soul".

So... is there anything you've heard so far that leads you to believe this is unlike any other cult you've heard about before?

Nope, didn't think so. And there isn't. I guess this might be shocking material for those who've never heard of brainwashing or even Charlie Manson, but it's snooze-inducing for those of us who have.

It's a pity because this isn't a poorly made film. The acting is decent. It just revolves around a non-story that's ordinary and non-compelling, to be kind. It's only 103 minutes, but it feels like a century. What a complete waste of everyone's time, including ours.

Vague, disjointed, contrived.

[tim-arnold777 · 2/10 · 27 December 2015]

I swear I didn't dose off at in the first 45 minutes of this film, but it really seemed as though there were big gaping holes in the story. Really got tired of these tedious cult people forcing him to drink some gunk which he invariably upchucks. The story inched along, didn't pick up pace and left me feeling as though I was standing on a dark corner waiting for a ride at 3am. Would not recommend to anyone. Another of many Superchillin offerings that tout better than a 7.2 stars on IMDb, but when I actually come here, find it's a good 2 stars lower rated. 3 reviews are not a wide enough base to feasibly rate a film. The producer, director and main character could have logged on and given it rave reviews, but this was nothing close to the quality or content I would expect from a 7.2 star movie.

not your average stereotypical cult movie

[curiouscarnivore · 7/10 · 6 March 2016]

some reviews were to me only negative, due the the lack of understanding, how in some respects the cult was showing true and brutal honest insight toward the main character..a man who was living his world only able to face all that surrounded him through abuse of prescription drugs and alcohol.. he hated himself had no respect or worth of his life and was disgusted with his selfish behavior that led to his wife's suicide..it got to the point not even the drugs were enough to face the truth about who had become..he took an overdose then made a call to the cult that he had tried to understanding by attending a meeting but saw nothing but flawed actions and left..but the people of the cult when he phoned to say he was dying from an overdose they came and saved his life ...took him to the "farm" and treated him with no respect show dislike toward him and forced him to suffer in every way while his body went through withdrawal from the drugs and alcohol addiction he chosen in his world of hell..it was the only way to show that why should anyone show him everything he hated and disrespected his whole life he chosen why show nothing but disgust to some that disgusted themselves and it was away to make him see through it all the only true path to take to really see his mistake and judgments on a world he felt no place to exist in and when his body was clean from addiction he then had to face the demons that had caused his life to be an existence of suffering and self inflicted pain from circumstances beyond his control..and the cult did guide him to release the pain and anger inside and finally let go of the darkness that held its grip upon his soul.....it all seemed too good to be true to be watching a movie that you really had to concentrate on and pay attention to to be able to see it held profound depth ....but as in all walks of life...nothing is for free...there are consequences and there are cults that show good on the outside..but all leaders of such groups seem always to get a high from the control and power they have over their flock..and an ugly and dark side of what seemed a leader of exception to the norm..wasn't so..he too was a person who creates these groups for control and power ...and all the healing he had helped the main character through was soon destroyed when his dark side imposed upon a young boy to which the main character was witness to..sickened him and all he felt was betrayal lies and cruel secrets.. it was indeed on of the profound movies that portray typical cult story lines..and this film held itself until the end, which sad and unacceptable conclusion but a destiny which had just been hindered through its journey to the end...

Unsatisfying Australian drama.

[Mozjoukine · 13 May 2015]

It's an unwelcome responsibility to be the only one to write about this bubble from the swamp of fringe Australian production in which the hopes of a cross section of the country's film making talent are obviously emotionally invested. It has one great idea, the broken character absorbed into a cult gone bush is himself a therapist, which gives him some understanding of what is happening.

However if we are going to tackle this film on the level of high seriousness, which it clearly would like, note absence of religion which is the back bone of pretty well all such operations and the objection that sudden sodomy is not the central evil that makes them destructive.

The grainy images assembled in jagged discontinuity take a while to lose conviction and there are moments which engage - Winter's self dismissal, Le Marquand's Iraq monologue, the swinging at the punching bag routine. However on a single viewing there is no feeling that there is some great truth buried by the production's excessive length.

Stupid the movie

[draftdubya · 2/10 · 18 January 2018]

Travis was the worst unprofessional mental health doctor ever. Sex with a patient. The he goes off to a cult camp after she kills herself. He sees a mentally ill male getting raped in the wood, so what he goes and confront him, and then confront his rapist in front of the entire cult. Tom goes to recuse Travis the next day, but he's the most HollyWood breakdown van ever made.Then he goes out of his way to help the rapist cult leader. Then this smart guy goes to rescue a very mentally ill Grace(who's about to kill people on a train with children.

Moving, powerful, beautiful

[JoDelp · 9/10 · 15 January 2016]

I saw this movie last year at the ECU film festival in Paris and still to this day, I think about it often. I am not familiar with Australian movies but I am so grateful the organizers of the festival have selected this movie. The concept of healing the soul was really disturbing to me and very powerful. It made me change the way I view negative past experience. The idea I had of Australia was beaches, surf and ice cream but the decor is more like a Scandinavian thriller movie. The music has great beauty and makes the movie really haunting. This is a deep analysis of a man's life into the darkest places in his head. The cast was really well chosen and their performances shows so much courage and intelligence. This is the first movie for this director and I am impatient to see more of his work.

"We do dark. Dark is us"

[punishable-by-death · 9/10 · 13 May 2015]

The obvious theme behind this stylishly executed film is there in its tagline, 'what would you do for salvation?'. Or maybe, what could you do if in such a situation? Is it possible to make positive judgements when you are so depressed? Psychiatrist Travis (Mark Leanord Winter) isn't well. Living a city life with a city job, the world of his that we are introduced to is cold and emotionless, captured nicely with aerial views of the city. This is of course in contrast to his patients, who are filled with emotion. But Travis isn't well, and is barely listening to these patients. He wants to help them, but is unable to and in reality needs help himself. But being a psychiatrist, he can't talk to anyone about it, and starts the movie as an unlikeable person, someone who gets annoyed at people who offer him a pamphlet on a bus, a person who doesn't seem to care about his own patients.

Apart from the oft-ignored concept of 'debriefing', who are psychiatrist's psychiatrists? This is an interesting rumination as such a concept doesn't really exist, creating a main character who is immediately unlikable, but whose heart is good and transforms as the film progresses. His dwindling state of mental health is clearly the reason for his disinterest in his current patients, but it is made clear that this current state of health is due to the actions of a past patient. Unable to shake these memories from his head, he is essentially rendered useless and unable to do anything. Upon seeing the girl who tried to hand him a pamphlet earlier, this time he eagerly takes it. He attends one of their meetings, but nothing changes as memories of patients past continue to haunt him. Seeing no way out, he tries to take his life, but contacts the number on the pamphlet in a moment of panic. He wakes up in a rural community, and quickly learns what it is all about.

Travis is openly hostile when he first arrives, but his opinion begins to waver as the power of the community combined with his own desperation affects him. I have personally been in a very similar position and I must commend the filmmakers for the realistic depiction of these places and the people who reside there. The way the characters all honestly believe they are doing good, the emotionally heavy initiation scenarios… Some research has obviously been done to depict such circumstances with such reality, and crucially, with believable characters, as the farm's community offers up quite the spectrum. Standing out clearly is ex-Iraq War veteran Father Jay (Steve Le Marquand), whose persuasive demeanor and military past make him the perfect enigmatic leader of a cult. While at times fearsome and almost always sly, he can also be kind and empathetic. He is a distorted mirror image of Travis – a broken man who believes he is helping people, but in reality is hurting them.

Travis' entrance to the community and his exceptions to some of their actions brings forward characters like Grace (Tilda Cobham-Hervey) and Tom (co-writer Craig Behenna) who each have their own moral line in the sand. These characters are in contrast to Jay's devoted disciples, who seem willing to do anything for him. To be saved. This contrast between characters, and what some of them will do for their beliefs, is what kick starts the third and thrilling act that falls down only in the execution of the final scene. This hardly ruins an amazing film though.

I find it hard to believe that there aren't any other Travis' in the world. What does a shrink do when they need help with their mental health? Talk to a colleague? This is a concept that is rarely explored in life, let alone in cinema. Congratulations must go to the team for writing about such a rarely touched on subject with such realism. Cults aren't such a rare subject for cinema, and most films exploring cults in a tasteful way will be probably be good by default. This film though takes it a step further with its deceitful, misguided characters and again its jagged realism that puts you in the farm as a viewer. The situation within the cult can be interpreted in different ways though. The pitfalls of co-dependent relationships, the power of suggestion, misguided attempts to help others, exploiting one's psychological pain for their own benefit are just a few ways of looking at it off the top of my head.

This a film that not only has a strong narrative, but one that can also say so much more, depending on the person watching it. I can't say that about many other films.

www.epilepticmoondancer.net

Deep and disturbing

[kristenslawinski · 8/10 · 16 September 2018]

I'm shocked at the negative reviews. I found this movie to be really powerful. Yes it's slow at first, but it's a beautiful story of self realization and triumph over internal suffering. The ending was a surprise and made the main character's transformation even more deep and real.

Darkness and Salvation

[sophieboquet · 8/10 · 11 February 2016]

After the loss of one of his patients, a psychiatrist, Travis, collapses and loses his way. This movie handles a very difficult and delicate subject, often underestimated. How to help others when you are lost yourself? How to accept your own weaknesses when your role is to lead the way? How to face your patients' breakdown when it is a reflection of your own failure?

The photography feels intimate and authentic, far away from big budget Hollywood movies, which is somewhat refreshing. It is a stirring movie all round, juggling with suspense, confusion, misunderstanding and characters dualities. Get ready for a gripping and exciting ride and prepare yourself for redemption. Comedy lovers, pass your way! There are some tough scenes that stir up dark feelings at times.

If I have one minor grievance, it would be the ending. With all the effort and personal revelations Travis goes through along the story, I had imagined another path for his salvation. Also, the pace was somewhat slow at times, but probably necessary in order to give the movie such an uneasy ambiance.

In the land of Adelaide movies, One Eyed Girl stands alone

[videorama-759-859391 · 8/10 · 2 December 2016]

Here is one film, I finally got around to watching on Netflix, thanks to my friend, and I'm glad I did. Here is one film, thanks to it's originality and story, that completely enraptured and mesmerized me. Small admittance: I was an extra in this Adelaide film, and I was glad I was fu..in' part of it. Another thing I liked about this movie is how dark it is, visually too. The story involves a psychiatrist, haunted and mentally tortured by a former patient who took her own life, in a scene familiar to that in the starting of Color Of Night, one film, this film is a long way from. When receiving a flyer, to a mind minding group, a facade for a cult, run by a deceptive host, father Jay (Steve Le Marquand), at first against it, he becomes one of them, where coming to realize soon, things aren't what they seem amongst this manipulated many. Funnily enough I was expecting much more violence, one suicide scene, seemed very implicit, I for one, was kind of thrown, as I remember the director saying, prefore to shooting, it was gonna be quite graphic. But OEG is just such a different and totally absorbing riveting movie experience with very good, if real performances to boot. But none, are better than it's lead, Winter, who I actually met. He displays so many levels of emotion, making him one hell of a character/actor to watch, a likable one too, but all of this is so authentic, not overdone in anymore. A true blue, fine crafted performance, that makes you realize, there's some really great up and coming talent out there. Taking second dibs, was Le Marquand, who I also really liked, a good actor and real larrikin character, off set, who I also met. He was the other memorable performance, and there were others. Everyone pulls their weight here and delivers, even ones in little parts, or b.g. shots, but what I liked about the acting of the mains in this film, was the believability and realism of their performances, to their situations and predicaments, of course none finer than Winter. The opening overhead shot, that kind of had you debating if that was Adelaide, as some of it was shot in Sydney from what I believed, which heralded this Indie masterpiece, was an impressive start for this low budget winner. A winner that warrants "must see viewing" from anyone who hasn't seen it, but if disturbed or affected by cults, this film is not for you. The music scores are hauntingly great, the end movie score fittingly is sadly beautiful. Of course, the end one on the train, I had a few qualms, but the tragic outcome of for one hits hard, as does the film. On the whole, One Eyed Girl, a one eyed masterpiece, is one encapsulating and well received movie experience, just probably not on IMDb.