Fantastic Fest ’11 Review: ‘BLIND’

Strong female protagonists have been a staple on genre cinema for years.  Recently, with the power-house duo of Milla Jovovich and Kate Beckinsale and their popular Resident Evil and Underworld franchises, the women have maintained a heavy punch in Hollywood.  With all of these films, you almost forget the fact that you don’t have to be running around in tight leather pants and perfectly fixed make-up to stand as an empowered woman.  Though the main protagonist in Blind has to overcome obstacles and a lurking killer, all without the gift of sight, she reminds viewers of the power of the woman.

Blind begins with a tragic incident that causes the young police-woman in training, Min Sooh-ah, to become blind (didn’t see that coming from the title, did you).  Though life is hard for Sooh-ah, she surprisingly remains positive and extremely productive on her own.  Well …  aside from continuing in her police work.  One night, she reluctantly takes a ride in a cab during a turbulent rain storm.  The cab driver seems weird at first.  He asks odd questions and his demeanor seems odd.  Without seeing what happens and only going on what she hears, Sooh-ah believes she was a “witness” in a hit-and-run during the cab ride home.  This leads to her working with a private detective to solve the incident that quickly spirals into her being stalked by a killer.

Blind works well at times.  Actress Ha-Neul Kim portrays Sooh-ah with confidence and wit.  She has many funny quirks and is smarter and more adapt in her environments then you would think.  The highlight of the film is the relationship she forms with Detective Jo.  He plays the part in a slightly dim-witted tone without falling into slap-stick or caricature territory.  Sang-hoon Ahn paces the film well between more character-driven scenes and short but tense sequences of action.  Unfortunately, the main thing that is holding Blind back is the overall handling of the story.  Melodramatic is a word that came to my head so many times while watching the film.  The key factor in this is the music.  The score is overly somber with so many swooping crescendos that act as an attempt to amplify that drama.  Obviously, it does, but not with good results.  The director also relies on way too many flash-backs and dramatic sequences that are supposed to make you feel sorry for our handicapped protagonist.  Imagine a “Lifetime Channel” film starring Jennifer Love Hewitt overcoming obstacles that face her everyday life.  This is how the film feels as opposed to the gritty crime-thriller that the film dabbles in through a few bloody sequences; the most obvious and successful being a great parking garage attack.

Blind has all the necessary ingredients of a successful thriller.  In a lot of ways, this is also its fault.  The “damaged women overcoming obstacles,” a creepy but seductive killer, a troubled young boy (who co-witnesses the hit-and-run) finding guidance through our blind hero . . . I could seriously go on for a while.  Sadly, the director and script are so shortsighted that they fail to lift this movie more than just a feel-good Saturday night TV movie.  A few brief and bloody sequences show the potential that this movie had, but then the melodramatic music kicks in and we get another sappy sequence followed by another.