My Eyes

I hadn't expected to be wiping away tears at Mar del Plata's festival screening of "My Eyes," but here we are. This little gem snuck up on me like that friend who quietly tops off your wine glass when you're not looking.

Remember Adam Garcia? The Aussie heartthrob from "Coyote Ugly" who made bartop dancing seem like a legitimate career option? He's back and delivering what might be his most mature work to date. Garcia plays the husband to Tsu Shan Chambers' Alana with a restrained anxiety that feels painfully real-a man watching his marriage potentially crumble under the weight of his wife's single-minded mission.

But it's Tsu Shan who absolutely owns this film. As Alana, an optometrist whose professional life collides catastrophically with her personal one when her daughter is diagnosed with a rare genetic eye disease, Tsu Shan nails that particular flavour of parental terror that comes when you realize you might not be able to protect your child from pain. What fascinates me is how the character's medical expertise becomes both a blessing and curse-she knows exactly enough to be terrified.

The story takes a left turn when Paralympic judo champion Eduardo Ávila Sánchez enters the picture. Playing a version of himself (named Nico in the film), Sánchez isn't just stunt casting-the scenes where we witness his athletic discipline paired with his adaptation to visual impairment pack a serious punch.

My biggest gripe? The film occasionally bites off more than it can chew in the middle section. When Alana jets off internationally in search of answers, her marriage woes feel tacked on, as if someone in development thought, "not enough conflict!" Trust me, movie people - a child's potential blindness is plenty.

Kieu Chinh (who you'll recognize from "The Joy Luck Club") shows up in a supporting role that deserved more screen time. I couldn't help wishing the script had given her character room to breathe beyond serving as a plot device.

What ultimately won me over was how "My Eyes" offers a messy, complicated look at how families adapt when the future doesn't look like what you'd planned. It's about recalibrating expectations without diminishing hope.

Is it perfect? Nah. But neither is life, and that's kind of the point. It's a film that respects its audience enough not to sugar-coat reality while still offering enough emotional payoff to justify the journey. When the lights came up at Mar del Plata, I noticed I wasn't the only one discreetly dabbing at my eyes.

My Eyes is the kind of film that thinks it's saying something profound - but ends up delivering little more than a polished PSA with a $3.5 million price tag.

Written, produced by, and starring Tsu Chambers, the story follows Alana, an optometrist whose daughter is diagnosed with a hereditary eye condition. To save her daughter's vision, Alana must reconnect with a former lover - a vision-impaired judo athlete. It's the kind of setup that might work in a short film or a grant proposal, but stretched into a feature, it feels contrived, flat, and emotionally thin.

Chambers throws herself into the role, but the opening with back-to-back crying scenes are more draining than moving. Adam Garcia gives a professional turn, but there's zero chemistry between him and Chambers. Kieu Chinh - a legendary actor - is given almost nothing to work with and spends most of the film looking bewildered and under-directed.

The biggest problem? The writing. It's juvenile, clunky, and painfully literal. The characters are paper-thin - all overly earnest, squeaky-clean do-gooders with no real flaws, no edge, no grit. Everyone seems to exist to deliver a message, not to live in a world with real stakes.

The central plot - that the only way to help the daughter is to reconnect with a vision-impaired ex - is so on-the-nose it borders on parody. It feels engineered for funding checkboxes rather than storytelling integrity.

And here's the part that stings the most: this film was made on a $3.5 million budget. I've seen better storytelling - tighter, riskier, more emotionally resonant - from indie filmmakers working with a fraction of that. For all its resources, My Eyes never justifies its price tag, either narratively or technically.

The only real praise I can give is that Chambers got a feature made. That's no small feat. But filmmaking isn't just about getting it done - it's about crafting something that actually lands.