Blink (1994)

Good concept, poorly executed.

At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Michael Apted's direction sometimes gets in the way of true suspense, the middle of the movie seeming to slow down, and the killings take second place to the love affair. A red herring is thrown in and you might swallow it, but the identity of the killer once revealed may come as a surprise. A brilliant performance from Madeline Stowe elevates "Blink" in an otherwise slow moving, at times muddled, movie. It's true that the story may stretch your willingness to believe at times (though it seems that the "delayed vision" phenomena is accurate), what makes this a really good movie is the quality of the acting. As for the plot, its a thrilling and interesting crime as it begins to unfold, adding touches of fear with scenes of the killer... seen mostly through Stowe's blurry eyes. The best thing about this movie is Madeleine Stowe playing the blind woman, Emma Brody, who is given a transplant operation to help her see again. While her sight is returning she witnesses a murder committed by a brutal serial killer and becomes his next target. Stowe plays her character really well, making the blind scenes look genuine and making you care about her future. Aidan Quinn was OK in his role as Detective John Hallstrom, the police detective investigating the serial killer case who (surprise, surprise) falls for Emma Brody. Madeleine Stowe is sexy and does a good job in a demanding role, probably the most demanding of her modest career. This is a top notch thriller that will keep you guessing until the very end, and the soundtrack is not too bad. Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

"Blink" is a wonderfully atmospheric thriller about a blind woman who, after having surgery to restore her eyesight, sees a murderer leaving the scene of a crime and soon realises that her own life's in danger. The terrifying experience that she goes through, together with the fears and insecurities that she feels as she starts to see again for the first time in twenty years, are very effectively conveyed as a high proportion of her experiences are shown from her own point-of-view. This creates a heightened sense of empathy for her character and a strong level of admiration for the gutsy way in which she deals with her unusual ordeal.Emma Brody (Madeleine Stowe) is a blind violin player in an Irish folk band whose ophthalmologist offers her the opportunity of an operation which could enable her to see again. After having a corneal transplant, her vision is restored but it's often blurred or distorted and she suffers from a side-effect called "perceptual delay" which means that the images she sees don't register until many hours later. When she wakes one morning in the early hours and hears a disturbance coming from her upstairs neighbour's apartment, she opens her door and sees a man going down the stairs. Her vision is blurred at this time but later in the day, she "sees" his face much more clearly.The murder of Emma's neighbour is investigated by police detective John Hallstrom (Aiden Quinn) who doesn't regard Emma as a credible witness. He's an abrasive character who openly ridicules her but later comes to realise that she's his only witness and also he's strongly attracted to her. The affair that they then embark on provides a temporary diversion but when Hallstrom regains his focus, his investigation unexpectedly leads him to a suspect whose motive for carrying out a series of killings is extremely unusual.This movie features a number of sequences that are beautifully photographed. One in a train station, another in the early morning mist and a third in Emma's room (when her reflection is seen in the window) are just a few examples. These moments add greatly to the visual appeal of "Blink" and also contribute enormously to the marvellous atmosphere of the piece."Blink" is well directed by Michael Apted who takes time to show some of the issues that are preoccupying Emma as she adjusts to regaining her vision. Her memory of how she lost her sight when her abusive mother smashed her face against a mirror is deeply disturbing and seeing her own face in the mirror for the first time since she was 8 years old is understandably shocking. She also realises that she's unable to recognise what people regard as conventional beauty and so reflects on whether or not she's actually beautiful. The psychological turmoil that these issues cause isn't made any easier to cope with by the fact that her life is in danger and also her affair with Hallstrom is a particularly turbulent one.Madeleine Stowe does extremely well in what must have been one of her most demanding roles and the supporting cast is also very good.

Committed playing to the gallery from some standard 90s favourites, but not enough to save this film. I was rather hoodwinked by the trailer which looked good. In fact the movie is a thin, generic thriller with an afterthought subplot of an affair.Aidan Quinn gets some good buddy support but that cop ensemble doesn't reach beyond its precinct. Quinn and Stowe are perfectly capable of making something of their scenes but said scenes are too closely proscribed and might as well have been played by body doubles. And those who can't see the twist coming should invest in the featured surgery. 3/10

SPOILERS.Aidan Quinn has always struck me as a nice guy and a competent actor. Handsome in a James Deanish way but without the extravagant thespianism, and not afraid to have himself thoroughly deglamorized when the part calls for it. And that's him in "Blink." He even musters a first-class Chicago accent (not surprising) for a film shot in Chicago. Madeleine Stowe is equally appealing, in part for quite different reasons. She has a low voice that is simultaneously throaty and nasal (all her sinuses seem to be pumping away like a dolphin's) and she has a tendency to break into endearing childish giggles when she is about to undergo a corneal transplant, overjoyed at the prospect of being able to see again. And on top of all that she is a beautiful woman with a slender and very feminine body, the kind of figure you might see in a 19th-century illustration of Hans Christian Anderson's fairy tale about the little mermaid, only better because Stowe has legs as well as a tail. I also give her bonus points because this is her most vulgar, spunkiest performance on screen.The film doesn't have a lot of action in it. There is not a car chase in sight, nothing explodes, and all the murders but one take place off camera. About five shots are fired all together. But Apted, the director, has organized everything so that it rambles along without a boring moment, except perhaps for the predictable shoot-out at the end. We have a half-blind woman in jeopardy locked up in a big garage with some moron who wants to tear her eyeballs out. "Give me back those eyes that belong to her," he says, or something like that. The situation is straight out of Helpful Hints for Screenwriters -- Part Three, Section Two, Subsection A, sub b, backslash 4. "Put a blind woman in a dark room with a murderer." In fact, the script is the weakest part of the movie. The heavy is another serial killer following a pattern which it takes the cops two hours to figure out. (He's collecting the organs that were harvested from his dead girl friend.) Some of it makes no sense. What's the business with the Byzantine cross? Why does he slash his victim's wrists postmortem so that the blood will drain away and the organ transplants no longer of use? (That is, since nobody bleeds after death anyway.) And -- okay -- I can buy "delayed perception," although I've never heard of it, but after her transplant Stowe begins hallucinating her mother, the killer, her boyfriend, her neighbors, even in their absence. We're only one step away here from the old Helpful Hints for Screenwriters story of the transplanted organs that carry the impulses and sensations of their donors. (Cf., The Hands of Orlac or whatever.) Enough to make me worry about my hair transplants. There is also something about Stowe's wanting to be in control all the time, a desire of which nothing is made in the script, and is only there to provide something for her and Quinn to fight about.But Apted pretty much compensates for these weaknesses through sheer efficiency. He even handles the atmosphere people with notable effectiveness. (When Stowe bursts out of the police station's men's room after a brutal argument with Quinn, we see a knot of cops in the background who have been eavesdropping and they casually break up and stroll away.)There are also themes that explore the sensory apparatus of the human body. Actually, it's quite a sensuous film. The chief theme of course is Stowe's vision, and she's the actress for the part because her eyes are slightly crossed. We get some idea of her vision from time to time through a distorting lens and some morphing, but it's a technique that's only used when it's called for. There are no visual fireworks other than that. None of the shots calls attention to itself, as in, "Look, Ma, I'm a Director!" It's a tactile movie too. There are two or three love scenes between Quinn and Stowe and they're pretty rambunctious. Lamps get knocked over and all that, and she feels faces and hands, while Quinn feels her. Pretty sexy actually, but not at all titillating. Stowe has said she always made love with her eyes closed while she was blind, and fantasized a good deal, and in one such session Quinn asks her to open her eyes and look at him. It's a rather tender moment. The chemical senses are represented only by smell, taste being neglected. There are lots of flowers in this movie. When Quinn visits the home of victim number three, the husband had just brought his wife a large bouquet, and Quinn is holding another bunch of flowers. In one scene, Stowe tiptoes nude up to a vase full of roses that Quinn has given her and she sniffs one rapturously. And then there is the surgical soap. As for the kinetic senses, there are several sports scenes -- basketball (two) and baseball (1), in addition to the rather strenuous lovemaking. The auditory sense is centered around music. Stowe plays the violin. Quinn brings her CDs of The Drovers, the Irish band she plays with, of Vivaldi, and of Pearl Jam. "Eclectic," remarks Stowe. "I was drunk," replies Quinn.This is worth watching if it happens along on cable. It's even worth renting.