All Of You review | Brett Goldstein and Imogen Poots sizzle in director William Bridges’ drama (original) (raw)
Brett Goldstein and Imogen Poots star as two star-crossed lovers in director William Bridges’ near-future drama. Here’s our All Of You review.
All Of You, director and co-writer William Bridges’ tender romantic drama, ponders the question of whether love can be defined and determined by a test. The specifics of The Test aren’t explained, but the film is set in a near-future London where science has been able to develop such a thing. All Of You isn’t a sci-fi film, per se, but it asks us if we’re willing to go down this path of predetermined relationships in the future.
Brett Goldstein – who co-wrote – plays Simon, a journalist who is clearly harbouring feelings for his best friend Laura (Imogen Poots). Laura decides to take The Test and is soon paired with Lukas (Steven Cree). Simon does his best to move on and push his feelings for Laura as far down as he can, but the two are inevitably drawn to each other over the years.
There are shades of Black Mirror’s ‘Hang The DJ’ here as well as Sarah Polley’s devastatingly underrated Take This Waltz in how Bridges and Goldstein look at romance and longing in a modern society. Narratively speaking, All Of You doesn’t exactly reinvent the wheel, but it doesn’t matter when it’s done this well.
A lot of that has to do with the cast. Goldstein isn’t the most obvious romantic leading man if you only know him from his Ted Lasso days, but his performance here is nothing short of exceptional. In his hands, Simon becomes a complex, kind and frustrating man in equal measure, but most importantly, he feels like a real person, with an inner life and motivations.
Poots has the difficult job of making Laura, who is objectively a pretty terrible person, somewhat likeable. Poots smartly underlines the character with a sense that she has trapped herself in a situation she has no way out. You may hate Laura, but you’ll also understand where she comes from and if anything, she might be the more tragic one of the two leads.
The pair also have enough chemistry to light up all of London. Any film exploring romance will always live and die on the cast’s ability to make us believe in not just the story, but the attraction. All Of You feels like an authentic look into romance with all its complications and joys. Love is rarely linear and All Of You captures that perfectly.
Another thing All Of You captures amazingly is London. Filmed in the capital, there’s a real sense of place, which feels rare these days. There’s not a sound stage in sight nor is another anonymous city trying to pass off as London. The time setting of All Of You is purposely ambiguous, leaving the audience to figure out how much time has passed in between scenes from context clues.
Bridges smartly keeps All Of You from descending into sappy, cheesy territory. The film is unapologetically romantic but even lines like “I never knew how to love anyone else” never sound hollow, but heartfelt and sincere. There’s a palpable urgency to Laura and Simon’s encounters over the years. They have sex like every time might be the last time they’re together. And, really, is there anything more romantic than that? All Of You represents the very best of an oversaturated genre and further establishes Goldstein as one of Britain’s most promising actors and writers working now.
All Of You screens as part of BFI London Film Festival on 10th and 11th October.