CORNER OF YOUR EYE
Jesse Spencer
USA 2002, 97 mins.
www.phlyingphrogphilmz.com

Ever get the feeling you’re being watched? By, like, a huge hairy eyeball hanging from the ceiling? Well, you may want to stay away from Corner of Your Eye, because exposure to this film will leave you seeing big hairy eyeballs everywhere you look, and wondering just what reality this is.

Jesse Spencer’s debut feature is a take-no-prisoners mind-fuck that’ll turn your head inside out. How to synopsize a film like this? Well, one morning Paul meets his friend Sam at a local café with a desperate problem—he sees eyeballs everywhere. And suddenly, so does Sam! Except, the waitress at the café doesn’t see eyeballs, or Sam. Meanwhile, Sam, Paul and Sam’s girlfriend Sara (or is she Paul’s girlfriend?) start dreaming about each other, or maybe they’re being dreamed by each other, or maybe this was all a dream the whole time. Or something like that. One character tries to figure it out: “Either I dreamt it, or I remember being here while in another dream, or maybe I’m only dreaming now that I remember it being here.” Uh, yeah, that about explains it. Michael Fox of the SF Weekly wrote: “Corner of Your Eye is a terrifically deft exploration of the dreams-versus-reality dialectic that moves beyond hipster metaphysics and clever jokes to become a soulful, grown-up fable about friendship, intimacy and the fragility of the human mind.” Make an appointment with your therapist after seeing this one.

—Tod Booth

In attendance: Jesse Spencer