A Sight for Sore Eyes

I was lucky enough to see this film as part of the 'shorts' program at the Wine Country festival, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys film, not just shorts. It's emotional but not in a cloying way, and the performances are all wonderful. I particularly liked the blind girl, she was moving without TRYING to be moving. Gary Busey was a nice surprise, I didn't expect him to come down off of his 'crazy' perch, but when he does it's really nice to witness.

Apparently they are trying to turn this into a feature, which I think is a great idea, as long as they don't recast the roles.

Shane Stanley directed this, and he did a marvelous job, I look forward to seeing more of him in the future.

I gotta say it, because no one else will. Did they do a love story on a blind person because it seems that any film focusing on the handicapped, retarded, musically challenged or simply someone who must overcome an eating disorder gets attention from the Academy or the independent film fanatics? Overall this film was enjoyable and very well done, but just when I thought I had seen all the Rainmen, My Left Foot's, Shine's and What's Eating Gilbet Grapes - Stanley comes along and adds this one to the pile of 'the world of the less fortunates.' The blind girl certainly stood her own, a memorable performance in the likes of Rush, Day Lewis & Hoffman in their roles as handicapped characters and Gary Busey was surrounded by fairly equal talent. All too often a known star jumps into a small film and completely takes you out of the moment or simply out-shines his fellow cast members. Not so here. In 'Sight' the male lead goes head-to-head with Busey in a very dramatic and well written scene and really holds his own against such a seasoned and intimidating actor, such as Busey.

If this isn't an attempt to fall in line with the high-end romance players, I don't know what is. In the vain of "Two Weeks Notice", "How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days" and "Why You Were Sleeping", this film pretty much covers all the above mentioned story lines but thankfully creeps into some originality with the girl's handicap. Unlike most films in this genre, Sight wraps it up in less than half an hour (it's a short) and with its high production value and good storyline you can't help but wonder how & why the studios are shelling out 40-60 million dollars on these simple "puppy-love" type flicks. Oh, in this film they didn't have Hugh Grant, Sandra Bullock or Kate Hudson so, I guess that answers that.

I saw this film in a weekend seminar at NYU and unfortunately it was in a large room and was sandwiched with about a dozen other short films. I tried to get more information on this show and to no avail, but I really liked it. The topic or subject the instructors were giving was on 'bang for buck'/'putting it on the screen' and that's why this was in the sessions. Apparently the low budget goal is about $1,000.00 (a thousand dollars) per minute, and here they still achieved high production value and they said that this film was done for roughly $10,000.00 and was about a half hour in length. They came well under the target for low budget film-making and were able to get pro equipment and some known talent (like Busey, Zoe and Reyes). It stood well against other short films made by big named directors and actors and I'd love to know where I could see it again or get a copy (see my message board on this film).

I had the chance to view this short film over the first weekend in June while visiting the expo in New York City. The theater was about two-thirds full and it screened well. Audiences laughed (especially during Busey's scene) and I think I heard a few sniffles and hmm's from the heart from time to time. I personally was touched, not to the degree as I think some of the audience was but thought it was a nice piece of work. I believe I heard that some of the producers were there shopping it as a potential full length feature film, which I think could be interesting. They wrapped up everything in the short - left you hanging at the end but I can see it as a longer film. Deborah Zoe, (a New York resident from Guiding Light) was not there as far as I could tell, which was a bit of a let down, since I enjoy her work on the soap. Anxious to see what happens here, as I am a fan of her work and now of this short film.