Sightless | Film Review

 

This had been on my radar for a while, and because of the premise, I was really excited to see how it would be different to other similar movies.

Former violin player Ellen (Madelaine Petsch) is left blind after being attacked. However, she soon grows suspicious of the people around her. But can she discover the truth about her attack before it's too late?

I really wish I liked this film more than I did, because it had a lot of potential.

My initial problems came with the character of Ellen. I never quite believed her. And not because I thought this would be a plot point in the story or anything, but she just never seemed genuine.

Part of this is because we never really get an insight into who this character is. It is hard to have feelings (whether positive or negative) about her because we don't really know anything about her.

We are told from the offset that there are people that Ellen doesn't trust, but because there are only a limited amount of characters in the film, it feels like we are given spoilers almost immediately - whether these spoilers turn out to be correct or not.

I really like the fact that the film was made in a way that stops the audience from being able to trust their own sight. We see what Ellen 'sees', and this is really effective and unique.

The second half of the movie is a lot better than the first half - and part of this is due to problems with the film's pacing. The first half moves at a glacial pace, and then it's suddenly racing to its conclusion right when you want it to slow down.

The twist was the best thing about the film, but even then it could have been executed a lot better than it was.

And then the ending for me just felt a bit pointless. There were so many different ways that the film could have ended; I would have preferred something different.  

Overall, this is a film with an interesting premise, that was let down by its end result. It's fine, but probably not one that I'll watch again.

4/10