Joss Whedon’s latest creation, In Your Eyes, premiered last week at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. This film is the sophomore production of Whedon’s film studio, Bellwether Pictures, formed with his wife, Kai Cole, in 2012.

Fans of Whedon will remember Bellwether was created as a way to bring his unique and wonderful rendition of Much Ado About Nothing to the big screen. After seeing Much Ado in theaters twice, downloading the original score, and purchasing the Blu-ray Disc, I had high expectations for In Your Eyes. However, it’s unfair to compare the two films, as many reviewers have done so far.

In a role reversal from Much Ado, in which Whedon brought Shakespeare’s words to life, the man behind Buffy penned In Your Eyes and then turned the direction over to Brin Hill. While I’m a huge fan of Whedon’s writing, little can come close to the Bard himself. Comparing the quality of the two stories is, by extension, a silly proposition. Instead, In Your Eyes stands on its own as an interesting meld of science fiction and romance story. I don’t consider myself particularly well-versed in the genre of sci-fi, and this film was much more understated than the sci-fi I have watched in the past.

The plot focuses on Dylan (played by Cloverfield’s Michael Stahl-David) and Rebecca (played by Ruby Sparks writer and star Zoe Kazan) who live on opposite sides of the country, in New Mexico and New Hampshire, respectively. These two characters’ minds have been linked since childhood, allowing them to “tap in” and see the world, literally, through each other’s eyes. The connection was suppressed through their teenage years, manifesting only as vague feelings and impressions. But now, as adults, they have established a direct line to each other, enabling them to communicate at will.

Through his screenplay, Whedon created a world where the characters and story of Rebecca and Dylan were more important than any weird, mind-meld thing that was going on. That is to say that science fiction provided a frame to connect the characters, much in the same way that the setting or music might accent the plot — as a device to help tell the story. Interestingly, the screenplay never offers an explanation for the link, but honestly, that doesn’t bother me. In fact, leaving the reason for their connection unaddressed reflects how unimportant the sci-fi aspect really is. There are times when it’s better not to wrap everything up in a bow for the viewers, and I think this is one of those times.

When you look at the basics of the plot — boy and girl live 2,000 miles apart, but have a strange connection where they can look through each other’s eyes — it is easy to see how the director plays a critical role in making smooth transitions between worlds and helps the audience feel at ease with those transitions. Hill’s brilliant direction accomplished just that. I had to keep reminding myself that Rebecca and Dylan had never met in real life. Stahl-David spoke with Curiata.com on the red carpet prior to the premiere and discussed some of the measures Hill took to make the unusual interactions feel so real, even if it meant delivering lines to Kazan while hiding under a sink or a stool, off-camera. In the end, the result was seamless.

While all of the cast was amazing, one actor particularly stood out for me. Stahl-David’s portrayal of Dylan was so honest and heartwarming, it’s hard to see how he won’t win over audiences with this performance. Throughout the movie, we see Dylan struggling to fit in a place where he doesn’t quite belong. He’s a good guy who fell into a bad crowd. Dylan did jail time for some small-time crimes and is trying to make a new life for himself without ostracizing his long-time buddies who seem to be more interested in their next heist than in giving Dylan the support he needs.

Stahl-David brings out all the qualities of Dylan that make us root for him to escape the black hole of this corner of New Mexico. The allure of the local beer-drinking, pool-playing beauty Donna, played by Twilight alumna Nikki Reed, adds to that challenge.

Kazan also wonderfully plays a tortured soul, trapped in a suffocating marriage with a husband who is a doctor, convinced that his wife is in need of extreme treatment for mental health problems. (Husband Phillip Porter is played by Mark Feuerstein, who joked during the post-premiere question-and-answer session that he appreciated the chance to extend his acting range — from a doctor with good bedside manners to a doctor with bad bedside manners.)

There have been some less-than-stellar reviews of the film, including one that called Whedon a tad chauvinistic to have Dylan traverse the country to save Rebecca from peril. In light of my other work as a sensible feminist, I have to say that I think that Dylan traveled to save Rebecca because that is what that character needed to do, not because Whedon was trying to make a commentary on traditional gender roles. As matter of fact, Whedon has a proven track record of doing quite the opposite.

I was rooting for Dylan to get out of New Mexico because, no matter how hard he tried, it was evident that he was going to slip back into his old ways if he stayed where he was. Rebecca, on the other hand, had her own demons, but if she would have left her life in New Hampshire to rescue Dylan, it would have felt a bit heavy-handed, preachy, and out of character. And the chauvinistic analysis overlooks the fact that there were several times when Rebecca did rescue Dylan, albeit through advice and emotional support rather than physical presence.

In Your Eyes, although not destined to be a box-office smash like Whedon’s The Avengers, is still a beautiful film — and an intentional karmic balance to the blockbusters Whedon is now involved in. In pursuit of the mission of Bellwether Pictures, Whedon announced in a taped message played after the world premiere that In Your Eyes would be available for immediate download as a rental.

This decision is a step toward Bellwether’s goal to bring small budget films to the masses without the cumbersome expense of a traditional release. All too often, small budget films are unable to break through to the mainstream, leaving a hole in the landscape of film-as-art for the general public. Hopefully, if this new release method succeeds, we will see other companies trying the same model, inspiring more independent filmmakers and getting those films both made and seen.

With an of-the-moment cast and a story dealing with familiar, earnest emotions, About Alex, written and directed by Jesse Zwick in his feature film debut, is sure to satisfy its target urban, young audience. Some of its themes, however, are introduced with a lack of subtlety that brings the film to several halting stops.

The movie, which premiered April 17 at the Tribeca Film Festival, lays bear the complexities of post-collegiate life, when friends have fanned out across the country to deal with new circumstances and deep-seated anxieties without the support structure they had grown to rely on. The challenges are proving to be too much for Alex (Jason Ritter), whose suicide attempt as the film opens brings the gang back together for a weekend at an upstate cabin. As the six old college friends — and a controversial plus-one — gather to support one another, flames are reignited, personalities clash, and bonds are stretched to the limit.

The ensemble cast is uneven, with some players falling short of their potential, but the story compensates with its eminently familiarity to anyone who has tried to recapture the “glory days” that can never be reproduced. Max Greenfield as Josh and Nate Parker as Ben steal the show with the sincere, struggling men they bring to life.

Josh is an insufferable academic, bent on confronting uncomfortable feelings and awkward situations head-on. His blunt approach forces the other characters to deal with raw emotions and keeps everyone on edge for the entire weekend.

(Greenfield, with thick glasses and a scruffy beard, bears a physical resemblance in this film to Jeff Goldblum, who is name-checked in the movie — and who, coincidentally, attended the same screening I did.)

It is through Josh that Zwick delivers some heavy-handed philosophizing on the nature of relationships, depression, and the difficulties of growing into full-fledged men and women. The themes are tackled just a bit too opaquely, turning a couple of days at a cabin into occasional graduate-level seminar discussions that disrupt the flow of the film.

The plot carries on, though, and throws in a few twists to give Parker the meat he needs to make Ben the most interesting character in the movie. Ben is a promising young writer — or he was, before a yearlong bout of writer’s block that has opened his Pandora’s box of anxieties about his skills and his ability to maintain relationships both with his friend, Alex, and his girlfriend, Siri (Maggie Grace).

Siri, meanwhile, has landed a dream fellowship in Los Angeles. However, the love of her life, Ben, is convinced he must stay in New York for his career. Their relationship is strained, a fact that is evident to everyone at the cabin, adding to the uncomfortable feelings all around. Things only get more complicated as heightened emotions are stretched to the breaking point.

Aubrey Plaza plays the frenetic Sarah, a quirky, sweet girl with a compulsion for romantic entanglements. Either Plaza struggles to distinguish herself from her character on Parks and Recreation or she was cast in the role because of the similarities. Either way, I never quite saw Plaza merge into the character as opposed to portraying her.

The sixth member of the group, Isaac (Max Minghella), has strayed farthest from his college days, becoming an Italian-shoe-wearing, hedge-fund-trading, potential Republican (!) in San Francisco. Other than some minor sexual tension with Sarah, Isaac’s only addition to the film was to bring his young girlfriend, Kate (Jane Levy), on the trip.

Kate works for a suicide prevention hotline, adding a professional voice to the attempted suicide that looms over the entire get-together. Levy makes the most of the role she is given, creating a cute, self-conscious, wise-beyond-her-years wild card among the six friends who have grown accustomed to their own predictable interactions.

As the weekend unfolds, it becomes clear that any of the core six could have been the one slitting his or her wrists in the bathtub at the outset of the film. Each is struggling to cope with the overwhelming pressure of immediate professional and personal fulfillment that so often feels like a requirement of one’s mid-20s. That feeling will be familiar to much of the target audience, and with the star power of Grace, Greenfield, Plaza, and Ritter among that particular cohort, the movie will become a piece of the nostalgia so fiercely despised by Greenfield’s Josh when that demographic looks back 10 years from now.

The larger audience will find a film full of challenging questions and charming humor. Zwick proves himself adept at ratcheting up tension and breaking it with well-constructed absurdity and sarcasm. If his future efforts can more deftly weave his heavy themes into the fabric of his films, he will succeed in producing interesting and challenging works.

In this first effort, Zwick has created a fine film and a worthy entry in the Tribeca Film Festival. About Alex is funny, thought-provoking, and entertaining — but not without its flaws.