At First Sight
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Movie Reviews of At First Sight
Movie Review: I can't believe it's good
Summary: 4 Stars
Never like Val kimmer, but I think he is good in this movie. I did not go to see this at the theater becuase I thought it would be a normal boring love story, now I think differently. The best things in the films is the story, very drama and inspiring and sexy. Moods and tones of the whole story is welled-done excepted that it seems too rush with lots of story to tell in 1.30 hours. I think this movie is as good as "When harry met Sally", "Sleepless in seattles", "Great expectation" and "How to make a american quilts", if you are into this kind of movies. It's stranger that this movie did not do well and fews people know of this. They don't even put special features in the DVD. I was hoping for the deleted scences. Good casting both Sorvino and Kelly McGillis. Highly recommendedMovie Review: A memorable portrait !
Summary: 4 Stars
Based on a real story , this film is real artistic triumph . I do not agree with many people and even critics who state this picture is a soap opera . It contains many dramatic issues that invite you to think .
How can we adapt to the real world inmersed in a dark world where the blindness imposses us its own roles ?
This medical repport works out as a perpetuum mobile through the film , it is supported by a good script and a special chemistry generated for Mira Sorvino (I love her) and Val Kilmer in a very credible role as the blind man .
The brief process in which he recovers the sight sense is a life lesson .
Irwin Winkler caught the insights , and the inner conflicts of any man in a situation like this .
Excellent photography and edition .
Movie Review: A fine romance drama, which is Based on a True Story.
Summary: 4 Stars
A Blind Musseur named Virgil (Val Kilmer), been blind by the age of Three, his older Sister (Kelly McGillis). When Virgil has meet a attractive woman (Mira Sorvino) named Amy, he helps Amy to hear and sense of the world, giving her a new spirit and a burst of creativity. When Amy takes Virgil to New York for a Opearation on his eyes, a few days after the Operation, he could see. He falls in love with Amy but the Operation wasn`t that successful and he slowly losing the sight.This film is based on a Original Article by Dr. Oliver Sacks. Fine Performances by Kilmer, Sorvino, McGillis and Nathan Lane. Directed by Irwin Winkler has a made a touching drama about Love and Sight. A Well made film. Grade:A-.
Movie Review: A Philosophical Theme
Summary: 4 Stars
Among other themes that are presented effectively, the movie portrays very credibly the complex relation between our images of things, how we think about them, and our sense of our identity. It would take me weeks to get my students to appreciate the crisis caused by a confrontation with images of things for which we have no concepts, a crisis which this movie sets in awesomely clear focus in a matter of minutes. A smart movie.Movie Review: In this case, seeing is not believing
Summary: 3 Stars
Between the tear-jerking excesses of two of the Christmas season's biggest movies, Patch Adams and Stepmom,you'd think that even the staunchest fans of those caring-and-sharing medical weepers would have reached their limit. But here comes At First Sight,which is not quite so life-and- death, but it's just as determined, in its modest way, to milk those tear ducts dry. In this case, though, the scientific context of the movie -- about a blind man who regains his sight with unexpected repercussions -- makes for a subject considerably more interesting than the romantic drama to which it is attached.
At First Sight is based on the writings of neurologist Oliver Sacks (the movie Awakenings was adapted from his work as well). It tells the true story of a 50-year- old blind man named Virgil who works as a YMCA masseur. On the eve of his wedding, he has cataracts removed, which allows him to see for the first time in 40 years. The experience, however, turns out to be more painful than joyful. As Sacks notes, the questions raised are profound, and have interested philosophers from John Locke to George Berkeley. Is sight a learned activity? What is the relationship between a world understood through touch and one understood through sight?
The basic facts have been moulded into a trite romance that could easily fit between a pair of Harlequin covers. Unfortunately, the film glosses over the science and deliberately avoids some of the odder aspects of the original case. Virgil, on gaining his sight, also managed to pack on about 50 pounds; stress made him eat. Somehow, though, you don't expect a star of Val Kilmer's magnitude to take the Raging Bull route to character authenticity through poundage.
Instead, what we have is a story of a woman who discovers the perfect man, almost loses him, and then regains him. Mira Sorvino plays Amy Benic, a hot-shot New York architect, who heads off for a spa weekend in a charming New England village. Before she knows it, a hunky masseur has her calf muscles in his hands and has her melting like warm butter under his probing fingers. Entranced, she returns for further rubdowns until one day she approaches Mr. Magic Fingers as he's getting on a bus and discovers -- omigod! -- he's blind.
After a brief Internet search, Amy discovers that Virgil doesn't necessarily have to be blind, and she lands a top surgeon (Bruce Davison) to cure the problem. It turns out that Virgil is a bit reluctant, and his sister Jennie (Kelly McGillis) is downright hostile to the idea of improving her brother's lot. Love wins, though, and Virgil agrees to undergo the treatment. Soon, Virgil and Amy are sharing her New York apartment. But Virgil, who has accommodated himself quite well as a blind man, is now a very inadequate sighted man, who can't read or write or interpret even the most basic social signals. He's miserable trying to learn how to see again, and the relationship goes into a tailspin.
Much of the dialogue, during these dreary lovers' quarrels, focuses on blindness in love and living with one's blind spots and limitations (she has a too-symbolic chunk of unfinished sculpture she started in college). Nathan Lane pops up in the role of a wise and funny counsellor, the sort of part that usually goes to Robin Williams. "Isn't seeing wonderful," he says to Virgil, when he takes him to a strip club. "Seeing sucks," says a disconsolate Virgil. Roll over, George Berkeley, and tell John Locke the news.
Director Irwin Winkler (Night and the City)is rarely better than pedestrian in handling this story. At worst, the dramatic elements are plain clumsy.
The most interesting moments in At First Sight have nothing to do with the love story, but rise instead from Virgil's struggles with the social rules of seeing. What do facial expressions mean? How do we learn to look away from the homeless? There are a few moments that try to capture Virgil's viewpoint -- lights, glare, moving shapes -- that are as useful as anything the movie has to say about the conventions of seeing. Given the rich visual opportunities of such a topic, it seems a great waste the movie wasn't directed by someone with a more astute eye. Conrad Alton, Filmbay Editor.