THE EYE
US, 2008, 98 minutes, Colour.
Jessica Alba, Alessandro Nivola, Parker Posey, Rade Serbedziya, Rachel Ticotn, Chloe Grace Moretz, Tamlyn Tomita.
Directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud.
Another American remake of an Asian horror film, this time something of a classic made by Danny and Oxide Pang in 2000. This remake stays close to the synopsis of the original while re-locating it to California. What works in ghost films in Asia, with the traditions of spirits, is a bit harder to believe in a more rationalist US. However, with a nod to an allegedly more superstitious Mexican culture, the solution here is found in Mexico and Mexican characters.
While the film has its eerie moments, like the recent One Missed Call, it has some better known actors (and older) rather than a group of threatened, unlikeable young adults who feature in slasher horror. And is the more acceptable and accessible to a general audience for that.
Jessica Alba plays Sydney, a blind violinist, who undergoes an operation to get back her sight – this is done rather well with the subjective camera indicating how gradually adjusting to seeing really is. As with movies about people who receive transplants (especially of hearts which take over the personality of the receiver!), Sydney begins to see ghosts and events from the future. Her rather stolid psychologist (Allesandro Nivola) is sceptically helpful but then lets her know the identity of the donor. This means a trip to Mexico, meeting the victim’s mother and becoming involved in a frantic scenario where one of the visions is about to become a disastrous reality.
One is tempted to say that The Eye is nothing startling (although it does have some startling moments) but will be too quiet for many of the avid fans while easy enough entertainment for most.
1. Horror thriller? Mexican mythology? The adaptation from an Asian original horror film?
2. The American cities, auditorium, apartments, hospital? Restaurants, in the streets? The contrast with Mexico, the village? The factory and the house? The highway back to the United States? The musical score?
3. Sydney, her skill at music, the story of the accident, her sister, the fireworks? Blind? Acclaim for her playing?
4. The support of the conductor, the conversation with her in the restaurant, her seeing the ghost and falling backwards from her chair? Receiving her sight – and the scene of meeting the players and recognising them from their voices?
5. The surgery, the visuals of the process? Success? The effect on her, her sister? The time in hospital? Adjusting, the blur, the information about adapting to a seeing world, focusing, recognising?
6. The woman in the bed adjacent, the visit from Alicia, her illness, the conversation? Sydney and experiencing an edge, unsure of herself?
7. Going home, the nightmares, 1.06, the nature of the dreams, fire, the changing room, terror?
8. The consultation with Paul, straight up-and-down character, a device, explanations for learning, recognising? Contact? The stories and his not believing her?
9. Sydney, the range of experiences, the night, the hospital corridors, the cuts on her arm, the face in the mirror, the experiences of death and the mysterious creature taking the dead people, the woman and the accident on the street and her disappearance, seeing the image in the mirror, her going home, smashing all the lights? Seeing people die? Alicia and the photo? Alicia and her death?
10. Her sister and concerns, the worry, accompanying her, the stories? The mirror and her plea? Sydney at the restaurant, the fire, the vision, the ruins of the restaurant, Paul explaining what had happened? The boy in the corridor, searching for his report, his mother and her search? The episodes in the lift? The mysterious presences?
11. Her asking Paul to get the information about the cornea donor? Risk of his licence? The envelope and the information, going to Mexico, the town, the hut with the graffiti, witch? Meeting the dead woman’s mother, the explanation of her gift, what had happened, the people in the factory, considering her daughter a witch, the explosion, the fire and deaths? The vision? Her dying, bequeathing her eyes, Sydney and her seeing with the donor’s eyes?
12. The return to the US, the heavy traffic, the warning, the tanker with the number plate 106? Sydney and the vision, getting the people out of the cars, the little girl and the smashing the window, the explosion?
13. Sydney playing, the achievement, her visions and her being able to rest course of saving lives?
