The I Inside (2003)

User Rating:

6.1/10   

Director:

Roland Suso Richter

Writers (WGA):

Michael Cooney (play)
Michael Cooney (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

21 May 2004 (Spain)

Genre:

Fantasy | Mystery | Thriller

Tagline:

Sometimes it is hard to come back.

Plot:

A man (Phillipe) awakens in a hospital not recalling the last two years as he begins to find out things...

Plot Keywords:

Hospital | Scissors | Stabbed In The Back | Dying Patient | Infidelity

Cast

Ryan Phillippe	...	Simon Cable (as Ryan Phillipe)
Sarah Polley	...	Clair
Piper Perabo	...	Anna
Stephen Rea	...	Doctor Newman
Robert Sean Leonard	...	Peter Cable
Stephen Lang	...	Mr. Travitt
Peter Egan	...	Doctor Truman
Stephen Graham	...	Travis
Rakie Ayola	...	Nurse Clayton
Magdalena Manville	...	Female Resident (as Magdelena Manville)
Jay Simpson	...	Morgue Orderly
Paul John Borde	...	Intruder
Annabel Mansel Lewis	...	5th Floor Nurse

MPAA:

Rated R for language and some violence.

Runtime:

Canada:90 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Brazil:16 | USA:R (certificate #39662) | Iceland:16 | South Korea:15 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-15 | Germany:16 | Singapore:NC-16 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

UK

Company:

MDP Worldwide

Trivia:

Christian Slater (as Peter), Stephen Dorff (as Simon Cable), and Jennifer Love Hewitt (as Anna Cable) were originally set to star.

Goofs:

Continuity: After he stabs Mr. Travitt, Simon drops the scissors on the floor. When Nurse Clayton leaves and Simon steps around to see Mr. Travitt's face, he's holding the scissors again.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Doctor Newman: Easy. Diazepam, 5 milligrams. Easy now, Mr. Cable. You're going to be fine. You're just having a nightmare.

Don't ya just love to be confused?

Here is a film that will keep you wondering just what it's all about. For those who are into such movies, you're in for a treat. The familiar theme of going back to the past to "fix" certain wrongs is offered here with an engaging plot and a bang-up twist.

Simon Cable is a wealthy young man who wakes up in a hospital after some kind of accident in 2002, supposedly due to wood refinishing fumes. We soon learn that he has been in this hospital before, in 2000, which is when his brother Peter was killed. His wife Anna comes to see him but apparently was somehow involved in the cover-up of the truth behind Peter's death. All of this is unknown to Simon, since he has amnesia (or so his doctor thinks) and now believes he has lost two years of his life. It is here that we movie-goers become intrigued, and the attention-grabbing twists do not stop. Who is the blond woman Claire? What is the secret of Simon's brother's death? Why is his doctor unfathomably a pediatrician?

As Simon recovers from his accident, he seems to have flashbacks to 2000, filling the holes in his memory. Or does he? His doctor in 2000 makes a pretty good case that his mind is creating images that Simon feels are actually premonitions of 2002. Confused? Well, so's Simon, and we come to understand the "real" story in bits and pieces, just as Simon does. Eventually, he believes (based on a rather shocking incident during a "flashback" to 2000) that he can go back in time to undo past wrongs and, as in so many other films of this type, things do not go well.

Seen it before, you say? Well, this is a well-wrought presentation of the basic premise, with a possible murder and wife/mistress conflict, some good editing, and more than respectable acting, especially from Ryan Phillipe (Simon), who seems to be blossoming as an actor, or at least is getting better roles. This is a good thing, considering that Phillipe is in every scene, and the other actors all have rather small parts by comparison. Big-name actor Stephen Rea as Doctor Newman is nothing to write home about, but that may partly be because his role is relatively less significant to the total story. The role of Simon's brother Peter, played by Robert Sean Leonard, is even smaller, and Leonard seems to barely walk through it. However, watch for Stephen Graham's portrayal of particularly crabby heart patient Travitt in the year 2000 scenes.

In any event, go into this film with an open mind, and try not to compare it to others of its genre, most recently "The Butterfly Effect." The last few minutes of the film will make you rethink your comparisons anyway and leave you with a new confusion worth discussing at your favorite coffeehouse afterwards.