Movie 61: The Eye

Sydney Wells (Jessica Alba) is a blind concert violinist who lost her site in a fireworks accident when she was five. Her sister Helen (Parker Posey) arranges for a cornea transplant out of guilt, as she blames herself for what happened. Sydney slowly starts to adapt to being able to see again and starts seeing things that aren’t there, and having terrible nightmares about a fire.

Another Hollywood remake of an Asian horror film that I haven’t seen the original of. But this isn’t too shabby to be honest. It feels a lot like the pilot of a TV show or a discarded plot from Supernatural, but aside from that it’s pretty good.

I’ve been a fan of Alba since Dark Angel, before she was known for being super hot and not much else. Which isn’t really a fair judgement. Yeah she’s great to look at, but she has some chops too. She doesn’t get to stretch them to much but I personally think she did a pretty damned good job here. She doesn’t play stumbly about blind with a rocking head which is what a lesser actress would give you.

Same with Parker Posey. She’s the darling of the indie circuit though I find her annoying a lot of the time. Her usual craziness is dialled down here and she plays a normal person. Nice to see her getting bigger movie work, though this is hardly mainstream.

The film handles the early stuff well, with her working through getting her sight back and trying to adapt. It’s not a case of “her eyes open, and she can see everything perfectly”. They take their time. Her therapist is a bit of an arse to start with. We’ve all had an appointment where it feels like we’re inconveniencing the doctor by taking up their precious time. He’s that guy. Not exactly what you look for in someone who’s supposed to be helping you get your life together. And he ends up being a nice guy for the second half, sort of out of no where.

The young cancer patient who suddenly befriends Sydney for no damned reason seems tacked on simply so we know she’s really seeing dead people. It wasn’t necessary, there’s plenty in the rest of the film to do that. The ending was a little arse too, but not terrible.

So a pretty good non scary horror movie then, worth a watch on a quiet weekend night in with some beer.

Next up: Baby Mama