Search - Blink on DVD

OUTSTANDING ROMANTIC SUSPENSE WITH DEEPER LESSON

Janice Harrison | Malvern PA | 07/13/2009

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I recently purchased "Blink" from Amazon.com after seeing a trailer for it on [...]. In this movie, Madeleine Stowe, who is a very gifted actress, plays Emma Brody, a blind woman and talented violinist in an Irish folk band who has just undergone a corneal transplant to restore her sight, after she was blinded at age 8, when her horribly abusive mother smashed her face into a mirror. The brilliant opthalmologist who does the transplant surgery is obviously in love with her and has been for some time; it would have been nicer if this relationship could have been explored more fully, as another reviewer wrote.

Emma witnesses a murder but because her vision is still not very clear, she does not make a credible witness when she goes to the police. The detective assigned to the case is John Hallstrom, who is played by Aidan Quinn. It's obvious he and Stowe get along in real life, as they have great chemistry and have starred in other movies together. The scene where Quinn and Stowe are in the coffee shop, talking, and the way he looks at her, is very powerful. Despite his attraction, he is trying to remain professionally detached, but when he sees her having dinner with her doctor, his control breaks and he finally gives in to the attraction. The ending scene, in which he's standing and waiting for her, while bringing her dog back to her, and he tells her how he really feels (using lyrics she dared him to write), is outstanding.

I also think there is a deeper lesson in this movie: never take the gift of sight for granted, as it is precious. As someone who had LASIK vision correction surgery about five years ago (I could hardly see the big "E" on the eye chart before), I could really relate on a personal level to Emma Brody's coming to terms with finally being able to see. Of course, having a corneal transplant is much more serious than LASIK surgery, but nonetheless, I found the scene where the doctor removes the bandage from her eye, and she's touching his face and crying, very moving. The first time I realized I could read the clock across the room without glasses, after 30 years, I started crying too.


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