Eternity | TIFF50

I adored the film, let me be clear - the visual style was gorgeous, the performances from Miles Teller and Callum Turner were balanced and cute, Elizabeth Olsen has a wicked sense of humour in this (although maybe hyperventilates a little too much), and John Early and Da'Vine Joy Randolph obviously eat everyone's lunch like the legends that they are.

However - whatever you think this is? It is! No surprises.

It's a film about the meaning of love, and why it's not so simple. You won't leave the theatre with any new information, or revelation - this is a feel good girly-pop film where, for one moment, women get to wonder what they would do if Miles Teller and Callum Turner fought over them in the afterlife.

It's a rom-com, in a sense? It's a romance, it's a comedy. I'm finding this "choosing between two guys" trend a little spooky - especially because there's only ever a hint of homoeroticism (except for Challengers) and that leaves me feeling like we're treading old ground, perhaps even watching old movies. There's a truer message yearning to break free--

I digress. The ending feels a bit scattered, despite being relentlessly earnest - no spoilers, but the story sets up a lot of very strict rules and then immediately breaks all of them twice over. I love films where nothing truly dreadful happens, but I sense that if it had been a story with a novel or more modern realisation, this rule-breaking would have felt like it was in service of more.

I sense...a ton of mood-boards and pitch decks in this film's future. I think I was even able to tell which visual references it had pulled from too. A comfort movie, to say the least.