Às Cegas

I am a big fan of thrillers, so I decided to watch this movie. I wouldn't say it's a bad movie, but it could have been better. Madeleine's performance was okay. She was to play a blind woman, so I didn't expect too much from her. The movie was a little too slow paced for me though. After reaching the midpoint of the film, I could tell what the end plot of the story would be. Very predictable. There are also many unanswered questions and details that did not add to the story at all. I was quite interested in finding out what the plot was, so for that, I'll give it a 6.

Ellen Ashland (Madelaine Petsch) is blinded by an attacker and her expensive violin gets stolen. Her estranged brother sets up a convenient downtown apartment for her and hires Clayton (Alexander Koch) to help her adjust to her new blindness. She starts hearing disturbances from the apartment next door.

I really love the idea of visualizing her blindness. The bird is great. My only suggestion is to go full-bore with this premise. The pictures and art should be blank unless she is otherwise told. Any fabric should not have prints. I like the blues. It takes some careful attention but this visualizing blindness really works. Now, the reveal isn't much of a surprise. By that time, one could bake a cake with all the bread crumps. It's still interesting. On the other hand, a couple of ideas don't add up. It doesn't make sense with the brother. One assumes that Ellen would recognize her own brother's voice. An easy fix would be a letter instead of a phone call. The other is Lana. There is no reason to inject her into the drama other than a writer's prerogative. I don't see her helping Ellen play the violin again and that's the only possible motive. It's one of those things that doesn't stand up to a little bit of scrutiny. Overall, this is interesting but it does have a few problems.

An interesting and original psychological thriller. However, the ending left me feeling a little disappointed as this could have been so much better. The plus side? Kept me engrossed throughout, acting was decent, great suspenseful storyline and I really loved the cinematography which gave us a sense of what the main character was hearing, sensing and feeling. The down side? Way too many plot holes as we got towards the second half of the film and the ending was just downright lazy. A shame as this was definitely on the right route for most of the film, but I think they just ran out of ideas.

Maybe it's because I've seen a lot of terrible movies recently, but I thought this one was really good!

A super effective slow burn, and a really unique plot that unfolds perfectly. Madeline Petsch did a phenomenal job playing Ellen, with a really believable performance as a blind woman. The use of close up shots throughout the film was really well done and there were moments when the score paired incredibly with the cinematography.

The last ten or so minutes are a little underwhelming, but it doesn't take away from the movie as a whole. A super suspenseful and effective Psychological Thriller, and an excellent directorial debut from Cooper Karl.

It was ok... It gets points for keeping me hooked to the entire time... in some ways it can be a bit predictable - albeit in some ways also original .. Even so, its worth watching, some good performances. This is not a horror movie, if I should say... its a thriller.