Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 8.5/10
Cast: Bella Thorne, Richard Harmon, Dermot Mulroney, Amy Price-Francis, Shaun Benson, Louis Herthum, Thomas Elms, Sara Thompson, David Lawrence Brown, High Dillon, Stephanie Moroz, Micah Kennedy, Marina Stephenson Kerr, Cassandra Potenza, Danika Fredrick, Arden Alfonso, Robyn Delaney, Alexandra Wittering, Darcy Fehr, Aiden Ritchie, Adrian McLean, Curtis Moore, Jacqueline Guertin, Holly Bernier, Ed Sutton, Morgan Holmstrom, Gino Anania, Zoe Fish, Alyssa Parker.
The dead and the ghosts have always been a popular source of antagonist when it comes to most types of fiction, the long-forgotten voice coming through the mists of time, the warning from the benevolent spectre, the revenge and retribution from the grudge holding presence contemplating in the corner; like Hamlet’s Ghost, they still have their part to play in our lives.
For good or for ill, the dead and manifestations of their lives are a part of our natural psyche, so much so that barely a season goes by when we find way to extoll their memory and bring them back into focus, sometimes with the sharp realisation that the dead never remain quiet, sometimes with the dull ache of regret that we see the image on screen and we think of those that have left us.
The ones that leave but which we can hand on heart say, I Still See You, those are the ones that arguably hurt the most, the remnant of their lives playing out over and over again, the same loop, the same actions, the same smile, laugh, crossword or painful memory etched upon their face. The dead linger for a purpose and in I Still See You, the memories shrouded by mist are enough to send a young girl’s life edging towards the dangers waters of her own demise, as forces that run deeper and more malevolent than a phantom’s come into play on the anniversary of a scientific accident gone astray which claimed the lives of millions, leaving only the remnants of their existence behind.
For anyone who has touched the white statue in the U.N. building in New York, who has felt the ripple of time and the destruction of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima, who have seen the black and white photographs of the shadows left behind of the souls instantly vaporised, this film resonates deeply with that sense of loss, the ferocity of the depression that lies waiting underneath and how we, as those left behind in the shadow’s wake, deal with such emotion.
Overall, as a thriller, the film is endearing, special, one that understands the frailty of the human soul whilst taking on all the aspects imagined by Daniel Waters in his novel, Break My Heart One Thousand Times and one in which in Jason Fuchs’ screenplay captures the emotional torture and fear involved when we see those that should be far from sight briefly in full colour and who disappear back into the ether again a few minutes later.
A decently produced film that underlies the connection between the living and the dead, that shadows will always remain, the deep scar of conscious will forever have ripples upon them.
Ian D. Hall