Love story

Rating: 8/10 (29 August 2005)

I'd hate to be any director who hits a grand slam on his first try. I have to give Shyamalan credit for his effort on this one. "Signs" fell short, and seemed contrived and a little preachy. This one, whether you guess the secret or not is at its heart a very pleasant love story. First J Phoenix's presence is so intense and strong that you almost whither when he speaks. B D Howard is precious. I fell in love with her in this movie. The ending is abrupt, and I guess that's my greatest criticism, but by then I was so caught up in the depth of love she feels for Phoenix that I didn't care. When he announces, after several scenes during which he says little or nothing, almost angrily that he will dance with Howard at their wedding, and her sightless face is pointed towards his, there is no gushing emotion, or even a smile from either actor, but Howard's head moves after having been motionless for his whole diatribe, and moves in such a subtle and loving, pleased, emotional manner that you want to reach out and kiss her. She is a gem. I'll watch anything with Phoenix in it, and I guess my only general complaint about the movie is the same one that any movie portraying a sightless character with a sighted actor is that when you are blind, even if not from birth, your eyes lose their ability to move in tandem, the lids don't function as normal. No actor could pull this off, of course, but sometime I'd like to see a sightless role played by a sightless actor, not just someone trying really hard not to focus on anything. I watched the movie twice, and I rarely do, but the second time through, once the scary stuff was out of the way, I saw the love story underneath.