Futuristic or Post-Apocalyptic movies have a tendency to be ridiculously awful and this one does nothing to improve upon that history. While not as bizarrely cheesy as The Day After Tomorrow, as endurance-testing as The Postman, or as banal as Code 46, Blindness is nothing short of laughable.One only has to watch the Sci-Fi Channel for a few Saturdays (Or any of the Resident Evil or Underworld series) to realize that the first sin of bad science fiction movies is self-seriousness. When everything is dark and gloomy and nobody's laughing, you know you're in for a tough ride. Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the TV series that mastered the art of blending irony and humor with sci-fi drama, should be required viewing for any future director of the genre.
Try not to chuckle when people begin stripping at random times (just because I can't see doesn't mean I won't want to be WARM) or when Julianne Moore is being tackled by zombie-like blind people (who inexplicably all found her in a hurry) in a grocery store as she struggles to hold on to the food she just found.
One positive element of the film is how Meirelles enlivens transitions by weaving the camera in and out of strange spots. One never knows where a scene will start or end and whether we'll be able to see it clearly. His best tricks call to mind the hazy imprisonment of Julian Schnabel's The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.
The coldness of Meirelles' characters seems less like the result of a skillful hand and more like the consequence of ineptitude. So, if you enjoyed the scarily realistic City of God and the suspenseful but forgettable Constant Gardner and are hoping for another score, you'll be disappointed.
3 comments:
Just a plug for the book that was adapted for this film -- it is one of the most unsettling reads I've had in years. Personally I have little interest in the film after the book, which provided nightmarish enough visions. But thanks for the film review, Matt, maybe when I get up the nerve...
One of my first thoughts after the movie was, "It probably made a great book." The premise was intriguing. It's just too bad that, like Anthony Lane from the New Yorker said, Blindness "(badly fails) to be a story."
May I also ditto gerard by agreeing that the book was amazing and Jose Saramago is a great writer. I also recommend All the Names by him. Thanks for the review - Matt. I was reluctant to see the movie because I held the book in such high esteem and now I don't have to see it.
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