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[REVIEWS
> BLINDNESS
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| 11/21/03 |
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| Joe
Lando and Vivian Wu in Anna Chi's "Blindness" |
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| "just
enough savvy to keep us entertained throughout the second half
of the film" |
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Reviewed by Sue Limsukonth
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| Welcome to the pleasant, orderly suburban
home of young Asian surgeon Daniel Hong (Chine Han) and
his beautiful wife Natalie (Vivian Wu); as comfortable
as the trappings of the house appear the Hong home is
not such a happy place to be. Discord arises from the
presence of Daniel's aging, blind mother (Lisa Lu) who
shares the house with the young couple. Natalie and Mrs.
Hong seem to hold uneasy company with one another. |
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| First impressions present Natalie as a spoiled and mean
daughter-in-law, while Mrs. Hong is a victim — an
old woman who is rotting away in darkness but kept alive
by the mercy of her filial son. Hong's mother, unsettled
by Natalie's obvious discontent with her presence is fearful
that her son and daughter-in-law are planning to relocate
her to a rest home. When not tending to her dead husbands
altar, Mrs. Hong engages in nervous and paranoid behavior,
namely eavesdropping on Daniel and Natalie's telephone
conversations. |
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Lisa
Lu (foreground) and Vivian Wu (background) in "Blindness"
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| What starts as yet another regular uneasy night quickly
changes when Patrick (Joe Lando) breaks into the house.
A convicted murderer out on parole (who with his long
hair happens to look like a soap opera hunk), Patrick
is not just any burglar, but a former family friend that
has come to settle a score with the Hongs. |
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"Blindness" takes place in the course of
one night and plays itself out like a soap opera. The
characters are one-dimensional and, at times, stereotypically
Chinese. There's the obedient son caught in between
and his pianist wife whose soul is chipped away from
dissatisfaction. Also, the poor blind mother whose remaining
joy is to spend the rest of her old age with her only
son and even the filial obligation of taking care of
an elderly parent which is common among closely-knit
Chinese families.
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| Lando, a veteran of day time soap opera "One
Life to Live" and night time drama "Dr. Quinn, Medicine
Woman," and Lu, best known from "The Joy Luck Club," triumph
over contrived dialogue by giving assured performances.
Vivian Wu, another leading Asian-American actress ("The
Last Emperor," "The Joy Luck Club" and "The Pillow Book"),
is unconvincing in her performance here, her flatness
the result by the lack of dimension in her scripted character. |
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Despite the thick melodrama, first time director
Anna Chi, who collaborated on the screenplay with Jared
Rappaport, allows the story to unfold wittily with just
enough savvy to keep us entertained throughout the second
half of the film. The twists and turns in the plot also
catch our attention as the story reveals that what one
sees on the surface is not necessarily what it is..jpg) |
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Now
in theatrical release
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| NOW PLAYING in Los Angeles: |
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