Look Away (3/5)

Look Away is a psychological thriller with heavy horror influences. India Eisley stars as Maria and her sinister mirror image persona, Airam. Definitely worth your time – on Netflix in some countries now!

Look Away is a thriller that has been grossly overlooked. That might all change soon since its star India Eisley is about to play the lead in a new TNT series.

For me, this is the kind of psychological thriller that I absolutely love. The sinister darkness of the story and the well-written characters are plucked straight out of a horror movie. In fact, this could easily be described as a horror thriller.

If you like the kind of movie where you know things will get messed up, and you’re ready for the ride there, then get on board. 

India Eisley is simply perfect

If you don’t know India Eisley yet, then don’t worry, you very soon will. She’s starring in the upcoming TNT mini-series I Am the Night. The mini-series has Patty Jenkins and Chris Pine as executive producers.

Patty Jenkins (Monster and Wonder Woman) also directs several episodes while Chris Pine co-stars with India Eisley. I Am the Night is based on a true story (which involves the Black Dahlia murder) and the mini-series is bound to be a smash hit.

We were at the world premiere of the pilot episode back in November 2018, when it screened at AFI Fest. I wrote a review of the first episode of I Am the Night over at another website, so you can read it here >

For me, I first really took notice of India Eisley when she had a pivotal supporting role in Clinical. A horror thriller, I highly recommend watching.

Also read: Our review of the horror thriller Clinical here >

Even before Clinical, India Eisley worked quite a bit with horror movies, so Look Away must feel pretty familiar to her. Beginning when she was just a child and teenager, she was in the horror sci-fi movie Headspace (2005) and played “Eve” in Underworld Awakening (2012).

Portraying two characters in Look Away

In Look Away, India Eisley is actually portraying two different characters. Sure, the two look alike, but they are two completely different people in all other aspects. It’s almost like watching Tatiana Maslany in Orphan Black or James McAvoy in Split. 

Also read: Our review of M. Night Shyamalan’s Split here >

Well, except for the fact that India Eisley “only” has to portray two characters and not a whole group. After watching her portray the demure and depressed Maria across from the sinister and forward Airam, I have no doubt that she could.

In either case, it’s both fascinating and scary to watch Eisley switch between the two characters. And it does make for a perfect plot developer in Look Away.

A solid supporting cast

While Look Away is very much India Eisley’s movie, the supporting cast is what makes the story work. We have Mira Sorvino as her mom and a Jason Isaacs as her dad.

Mira Sorvino is an Academy Award winner (for Woody Allen’s Mighty Aphrodite), but many horror fans will probably know her more from Guillermo del Toro’s Mimic. Reading the IMDb trivia on that movie is like reading a list of reasons why the Weinsteins should have been stopped years earlier.

For one, they wanted to fire del Toro and complained he wasn’t making the movie scary enough. Sorvino threatened to leave with him and since she was a hot name and recent Academy Award winner, the Weinsteins couldn’t risk this. One could argue that she paid the price later. 

Jason Isaacs may be best known to you as Lucius Malfoy from the Harry Potter franchise. His character in Look Away isn’t far from being a Malfoy. Basically, he’s a selfish and extremely controlling man, who has an obsessive need to manage his wife and daughter.

Also, many horror fans will probably recognize Penelope Mitchell. She’s worked on the horror shows The Vampire Diaries and Netflix’s Hemlock Grove as well as the movies The Fear of Darkness and Curve.

Watch Look Away on Netflix now!

The writer and director of Look Away is Assaf Bernstein and I definitely like the way his mind works. Basically, the story he created here is dark and twisted in all the right ways.

There will be moments where you’ll want to look away or cringe at what you see. But again, this is definitely the intention of the filmmaker.

This is only the second script by Assaf Bernstein. He first wrote the original version on The Debt, which was later remade in the US in 2010 and starred Helen Mirren and Jessica Chastain. The Debt was originally a movie from Israel with the title Ha-Hov from 2007. Assaf Bernstein also directed the Israeli version while John Madden directed the remake.

Before making Look Away, Assaf Bernstein directed season 1 of the Israeli Netflix series Fauda. After watching Look Away, I really hope Netflix will get Bernstein on board to create original content. It seems like it could be a perfect match!

No, you can’t watch Look Away worldwide on Netflix yet, but it has been released on Netflix in Canada and more countries are bound to follow. You really should not miss Look Away. It was way better than anything I had expected.

Look Away is on Netflix in Canada now and can be watched on VOD and DVD in the US.

Details

Director: Assaf Bernstein
Cast: India Eisley, Jason Isaacs, Mira Sorvino, Penelope Mitchell, John C. MacDonald, Harrison Gilbertson

Plot

This psychological thriller tells the story of Maria. She’s an alienated high-school student whose life is turned upside down when she switches places with her sinister mirror image.