Eye Of God on DVD (1997)

Watchable character study

ThomasKus from Gloucester [Highly rated reviewer] , 10/04/2004

When small town girl Ainslee meets 'fresh out of prison' Jack her life seems to become some meaning and she is genuinely happy until his old character flaws return...

This is a character study rather than a straight forward drama. Much emphasis is placed on bringing the main players to life with solid acting throughout including some non-irritating voice-overs. There is little action and most of it seems quite predictable. It is worth mentioning that this film has essentially two intertwined story lines that are both told in a non-linear fashion which demands a high level of attention throughout but is not really hindering either. Where the film falls down in my eyes is the lack of genuine sympathy or interest I had for any of the main characters. There was no real dramatic narrative or tension despite the fact that the story would have had plenty of room for this. Ultimately I found myself looking at my watch from time to time even though this is only a short 80min film. I was also disappointed with the rather abrupt ending that leaves too many questions unanswered.

Difficult to recommentd this one - it is watchable but not what I would call interesting.

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God gets grit in his eye!

Charles Brickley from Andover, Hampshire England [Highly rated reviewer] , 29/08/2008

The first time film for writer/ Director Tim Blake Nelson, this film was made with a lot of love but contains a lot of heartache.

Excellent performances from Martha Plimpton ('The Goonies', 'Parenthood' & 'ER'), Kevin Anderson ('Hoffa', 'The Wrong Man' and 'Rising Sun') and of course the Sherriff, Hal Holbrook.

The story was told like a jigsaw, so definitely no nipping off for a cup of tea and some scenes were not for the faint hearted.

Worth the money, but you may need to watch it second time to fully track the plot.

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Eye of Glass

A customer from Glasgow , 12/11/2006

Nick Stahl for me, is a great wee actor. He brought his usual depth to the troubled teen forced into a downward spiral after losing his mum. He is supported by Martha Plimpton as a similar lost soul, destined to a doomed end once she meets seemingly perfect parolee Anderson.

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Eye of God

SAI81 from Tonbridge [Highly rated reviewer] , 12/02/2007

Ainsley (Plimpton) is working as a waitress in a near empty diner when the man she's been penpals with is released from prison. On his release Jack (Anderson) comes to meet Ainsley and the two are soon married. However married life turns out not to be a bed of roses as the tendencies that laded Jack in prison begin to resurface.

Tim Blake Nelson is probably still best known as one of George Clooney's buddies in O Brother Where Art Thou but at the same time as he's maintained his acting career he's been quietly building a reputation as a director. Developed at The Sundance Institute Eye of God is Nelson's first crack at the whip behind camera and it's a promising debut indeed.

Using the farctured timeline that appears to have been a legal requirement for all independent American films in the mid to late nineties he tells a simple, and rather familliar, tale with conviction and clarity.

Nelson's screenplay is understated and quiet. He doesn't give people grandstanding speeches, rather he focuses in on the minutiae that drives relationships; romantic, business, and others.

Aiding Nelson is a teriffic cast. Martha Plimpton is one of those actresses who just isn't well known enough. She almost always plays supporting roles and ends up stealing scenes if not films. It's probably the fact that she's not a classical beauty that has held her back in the business but her down to earth look work well for her role here. Ainsley looks like anybody, which means you can believe that she's got to a place where marrying an ex-con seems an attractive option. It's a very reined in performance, beautifully underplayed.

Kevin Anderson also does subtle work as Jim. It's a role that it would have been easy to play overblown, or to tip the hand to the audience with but Anderson and Nelson don't, which makes the ending of the film more shocking.

Among the supporting cast a young Nick Stahl stands out. He only really gets to speak in the final minutes of the film but in his two scenes with Plimpton the characters form a bond that is interesting and almost makes you want to see a different film with them.

It's not without its problems. First and foremost its too short. At just 76 minutes minus credits threads feel a little unfinished; too much bone, not enough flesh. The timeline can also be frustrating as it means that things are chopped into very bitesize chunks and it's sometimes unclear, to begin with, what the sequence of events is.

Eye of God isn't a great film but it would be worth seeing just to see Martha Plimpton getting to excel as a lead and there's more than that to recommend it.

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God gets grit in his eye!

Charles Brickley from Andover, Hampshire England [Highly rated reviewer] , 29/08/2008

The first time film for writer/ Director Tim Blake Nelson, this film was made with a lot of love but contains a lot of heartache.

Excellent performances from Martha Plimpton ('The Goonies', 'Parenthood' & 'ER'), Kevin Anderson ('Hoffa', 'The Wrong Man' and 'Rising Sun') and of course the Sherriff, Hal Holbrook.

The story was told like a jigsaw, so definitely no nipping off for a cup of tea and some scenes were not for the faint hearted.

Worth the money, but you may need to watch it second time to fully track the plot.

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Eye of Glass

A customer from Glasgow , 12/11/2006

Nick Stahl for me, is a great wee actor. He brought his usual depth to the troubled teen forced into a downward spiral after losing his mum. He is supported by Martha Plimpton as a similar lost soul, destined to a doomed end once she meets seemingly perfect parolee Anderson.

Read all highest rated reviews