Have you ever verified through personal observational induction that all eyes are unique? Do you, like me, find the eye to be the most beautiful and fascinating body part? Have you ever boarded a bus because fate told you to? Eye might just have a film for U.
Ian (Michael Pitt) is a nerd. Lovable? Sorta. Destined for something bigger? Certainly. He’s a PhD candidate opthamologist. Is he going into medicine or constructing glasses in an hour? Oh, Hell no. He wants to create an eye from scratch by manipulating animals. I Origins is very critical of Ian playing God here — if you give sight to a blind worm, are you really doing it a favor? Forget that. Move ahead.
At a costume party, Ian meets a woman (Astrid Bergès-Frisbey). She’s in some sort of sleek leotard so we know she’s hot even if she’s masked. Yeah, way to go out on a limb there, movie. The only part she hasn’t covered is her eyes; Ian asks to photograph them — to him it’s a hobby, but for the rest of us? Gotta be just about the best pickup line ever. Think about it: you’ve used flattery that’s not necessarily sexual or intimidating, you’ve broken the ice, and you’ve immediately introduced yourself with an eccentric but certainly acceptable and cool hobby. I wish I were 16 again; I’d use this one constantly. The babe falls. Who wouldn’t? 10 seconds later, they’re having anonymous bathroom sex. Then she disappears. All he has is her eyes (one of the most distinctive and gorgeous pairs on the planet, btw).
Distraught that his serendipitous dream has flown forever, Ian tries vainly to track her down. And then one day, fate does it for him. Um, why now, fate? It’s kind of cool; he hits upon a string of random elevens and then what should appear behind him but the 
#11 bus. It takes him to a billboard — and there are those eyes again. (We’re not alone in thinking she has it all goin’ on between nose and forehead).
Ian is a man of science. His experiments exist to disprove God. If he can find scientific evolution in eyesight, the idea of punctuated equilibrium disappears. So here he is out to destroy the divine and yet clearly something other worldly exists leading him to love. I Origins is like that — do you want to believe or do you want to disprove? For the sake of being entertained, try ‘believe’ and you just may enjoy this one.
“Disprove the big G,” says our hero guy
The scientific battle ground is optomi-try
But whatever we C
And whomever we B
There’s more to life than meets the I.
Rated R, 107 Minutes
Director: Mike Cahill
Writer: Mike Cahill
Genre: Does God exist or do we all suck?
Person most likely to enjoy this film: Optometrists
Person least likely to enjoy the film: The Blind
