See For Me - An Uncertain Thriller

 

For rent on Apple TV, Google Play, Amazon, and YouTube

    One of the most essential rules of screenwriting is your protagonist (the main character) must be (in some way) relatable, likable, or empathetic. The audience needs to identify with the protagonist to properly engage with the story. Sarah Conor (Linda Hamilton) from The Terminator or John McClane (Bruce Willis) from Die Hard are a few excellent examples. The story will suffer when you have an unlikeable or unrelatable protagonist because there's no tangible reason for investing our time. Case in point; why am I supposed to root for anyone in the movie I Care A Lot when everyone is selfish, unempathetic, and downright evil? 

    See For Me is a film with a protagonist who constantly loses balance on the tightrope between being sympathetic and otherwise not. Granted, part of the story is about the protagonist learning a lesson to become a better person, but it takes too long to reach that point. For the most part, the film is a genuine thriller with a pretty neat concept...that would have been more memorable if the protagonist wasn't so disjointed. 

    The story follows a young woman named Sophie (Skyler Davenport), a former professional skier who lost her sight after an accident. Since then, she's adapted to her disability and currently works as a housesitter for wealthy clients. They are wealthy enough that they might not miss one of their many bottles of uber-expensive wine, which Sophie can take home and sell-off. Her latest efforts appear to be going off without a hitch until a group of men sneak their way into the house and attempt to break into a hidden safe filled with dirty money. To survive, Sophie uses an app called "See For Me": a dedicated service for the blind that provides an assistant via video call. Sophie manages to connect with an assistant named Kelly (Jessica Parker Kennedy), a former soldier with the right kind of experience to help Sophie survive while waiting for the police to arrive. The only question is, how far will Sophie go to survive the night? 

    Overall, the film is fine. It has a solid premise, decent performances, and a couple of genuinely thrilling moments sprinkled throughout. It's a well-done execution of a neat concept. However, as I alluded to before, it partially suffers from a less-than-likable protagonist. 

    On the one hand, her personality and choices are understandable. She's a proud athlete who suddenly can't ski anymore and hates being treated as a weakling who needs help for most mundane things. That is something any of us can understand, even if we don't have a disability of some kind. But on the other hand (minor spoiler), her likability goes out the window when she decides to try and join the criminals who broke in, offering to help with the heist in exchange for a fair cut. Granted, part of why she would do it is to survive the ordeal. Still, the story feels as if it pushes the situation too far, causing the audience (intentional or not) to lose interest in the protagonist's plight. She's like a walking balance scale that's constantly shifting too far between the two extremes. And when the story finally provides her with the right balance, you wonder why it took so long. 

    The film also suffers from being yet another thriller that's too dark, as in too darkly photographed. Granted, it's a scary movie with a blind protagonist, so darkness does play an essential role in the story, but I can't help feel they missed a perfect opportunity to play around with the contrast. Like, the film could have been brightly lit for the first half, providing a disadvantage the protagonist has to overcome, as she slowly removes the light bringing the villains down to her level. Instead, the whole film is overrun with too many shadows all the time. Admittedly, that is just a minor nitpick. 

    See For Me may not have the most well-rounded protagonist, and it may suffer from too much low-light photography (understandable though it is), but it's still a decent thriller with a clever idea that, at the very least, does not feel wasted. If you need a quick scare for some reason, this might fit the bill. Give it a look if you're the least bit curious. 

Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading. 

Hear Me Roar - Why Doesn't Hollywood Understand Feminism?

 

"I want women to control their own health choices, just like I want my daughters to have the same opportunities as your sons." 

-President Obama

    I have tried to avoid directly discussing challenging and politically charged (for want of a better phrase) subjects here on my blog. This is primarily because this is a blog about movies and their escapist nature, which we all need, and spending too much time on any heavy subject can be exhausting or unwarranted. Typically, I would relegate such discussions to a quick and straightforward comment or carefully phrased joke pointing out the absurdity of whatever nonsense thing that a movie happened to remind me of. However, besides being a cinema enthusiast, I am also, among other things, a feminist. At least, I identify as such. And as a feminist, I can't help but notice a terrible pattern in Hollywood when it comes to its false and toxic perception of "Girl Power." It has bothered me for quite some time, and I can no longer remain silent on the subject. 

    Before I go any further with this discussion, please understand that it is not my intention to belittle, degrade, or "man-splain." I am all too aware of the frustrating and unfortunate effects of male privilege, misogyny, and sexism that continue to plague our existence in far too many ways. While I recognize how fortunate I am, I am not blind to what others have to suffer and endure for the stupidest of reasons (I'm looking at you, Texas!) 

    For me, being a feminist is, among other things, putting in the effort to make yourself aware of inequality and how to best combat it, preferably non-violently. Because I enjoy movies so much, I feel it is high time I shared my thoughts on a few movies in recent years (well, one in particular) that have tried to provide a "feminist" theme...and utterly failed! 

    

    First, what is feminism? The Merrian-Webster Dictionary defines feminism as "The belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities." This is indeed what feminism means to me. However, in some circles, feminism is shifting from advocating for equality to, for want of a better term, "man-shaming." While I do not deny that a big part of fighting for equality is tackling patriarchy and abolishing male dominance in many fields, it should not, at least in my opinion, also entail the degradation and aggressive take-down of men as a whole. 

    I may be a middle-aged white male, but I'm not an idiot, nor do I appreciate being treated as such by anyone, least of all in cinema. 

    Let me give you an example of the kind of false & toxic cinematic feminism I'm referring to. 

    Consider for a moment 2019's Charlie's Angels, written and directed by Elizabeth Banks.

    This movie is one of a couple of films that choose to utilize probably one of the laziest and most toxic forms of false feminism, proclaiming that all women are good and all men are evil. While I have no doubt that writer and director Elizabeth Banks (a talented and highly skilled creator in her own right) had noble and understandable intentions with this movie, I have to say that I hate this movie as a feminist man. 

    Setting aside the clunky & unnatural sounding dialogue, inconsistent character beats, and wasted performances from otherwise talented & intelligent actors (seriously, Patrick Stewart, what were you thinking?), the movie's idea of feminism is toxic, counterproductive, and quite frankly, mean-spirited. 

    In an attempt to provide an outing for female empowerment, the movie became a monstrous dehumanization of all men, which is counter to what feminism is about and wholely unnecessary. Even as a work of escapist fantasy. While I agree that things like patriarchy and male privilege need to be seriously addressed and abolished, I don't think any of that can be achieved by directly insulting half the world's population.

    So, how did feminism, at least in cinema, go from promoting equality to misandry? Well, I have a theory: we're all tired of the lack of genuine progress. 

    We are over two decades into the 21st century, yet, we are still fighting unnecessary battles that have been raging on pretty much since the dawn of civilization. We are supposed to be better than this by now, but we don't appear to be. At least, not yet. 

    Perhaps what frustrates me the most about this situation, as it pertains to the cinema, is that too many mainstream movies are sending out the wrong messages. Cinema has a more significant influence on people than some might have you believe. It is irresponsible for storytellers to not hold themselves or their peers to higher standards than what has been shelled out in recent years. 

    The good news is not all recently released movies fail to provide a genuinely positive feminist message. Consider, once again, one of my favorite (and still criminally underrated) movies also released in 2019. 

    Yes, this movie stars a man (Will Smith), was directed by a man (Ang Lee), and was written by three men (David Benioff, Darren Lemke, and Billy Ray). Yet, this is one of my favorite examples of a film with a beautiful example of genuine feminism. Why? Because of the supporting character, Danny (Mary Elizabeth Winstead). 

    Danny is, hands down, one of the best-supporting characters in any movie and is an excellent example of genuine feminism in cinema (at least in my opinion). Aside from a semi-contrived strip search scene (seemingly and unnecessarily demanded of every conventionally attractive actress in Hollywood), Danny is never objectified, never talked down to, and the fact that she happens to be a woman is never brought up by anyone, not even the main villain. Danny is proactive, competent, intelligent, solves problems, and isn't afraid to get her hands dirty if the situation calls for it. And, indeed, she does so. A lot! 

    Danny isn't a woman character or female support or forced love interest...she's just a character, plain and straightforward. Every interaction between her and the main character, Henry (Will Smith), is just between two professionals who need each other to survive. Along the way, they develop a genuine partnership. No misogyny (not even as a joke), no unnecessary questions or commentary, no need to point out her sex at all. 

    This, to me, is what feminism in cinema (and indeed the real world) should look like. Because, whatever your stance may be, we are all human beings first. Everything else is just a secondary aspect of our human identity. All of which are ways to enhance characters and elevate your story. They should not be seen as some kind of hindrance or deemed "too difficult" to write, despite what the misogynist idiots over at UBISOFT would have you believe. 

    If feminism is about equality, then it falls onto all of us to display and present it in as many ways as possible. As understandable as some of our anger is, it is never the right way to solve any problem. While some sides of the conflict have more responsibility to follow through than others, we will never rise above if we don't maintain the unified vision of equality. 

Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you very much for reading. 

I'm Still Here

 Hello, my beautiful readers, 

    I must apologize for my absence. As the new year kicked in, I was distracted by many essential things. The least of which is finalizing and preparing my next book for publication this summer. 

    I shan't be going away anytime soon. Rest assured, I will continue to write and deliver reviews of movies and other forms of cinematic commentary right here on my blog. This I promise you. 

    In the meantime, please prepare your anticipation for my first review of 2022. I have no idea what it'll be about yet, so you'll be just as surprised as I am. 

     I look forward to sharing my thoughts with you all soon. 

Ladies & gentlemen, I am TheNorm; thank you all for reading.