My Blind Brother

This film tells the story of a man who spends his life taking care of his over achieving blind brother, who seems to over shadow him in every way possible.

"My Blind Brother" is a funny comedy. If you look at it from the point of view of the blind brother, it's a pretty empowering and uplifting story. The blind brother gets unconditional support from the able sighted brother, which is touching. If you look at it from the perspective of the able sighted brother, then things are not as rosy. He has no life, no nothing. He doesn't even get any respect from anyone, or receive credit for anything he has done for the blind brother. I feel rather sorry for the able sighted brother.

To be blind is to be born without eyesight. I believe Shakespeare once said that quote. Also when you are blind you need a cane to help guide you around town. If that town is San Francisco then you must be careful of the trams knocking you over. This film was good in parts but also bad in the parts where it wasn't good. Some scenes had good and bad parts which was quite refreshing. The thing I took away from this film was that blind people are people too but with no eyes. So to summarize: This film was good and bad in equal doses except in the parts where it was just average. If you are reading this and you too are blind then please note that your eyesight has come back.

Robbie (Adam Scott) is a blind athlete, beloved by all, and an SOB to his brother Bill (Nick Kroll). Bill feels both bitter about his treatment and guilty about being responsible for the blindness. Bill falls for Rose (Jenny Slate) who also feels guilty about causing her boyfriend's death. They hook up but Rose can't commit. She decides to be a helper and takes on Robbie. She also takes him as his boyfriend before realizing that he's Bill's brother. Francie (Zoe Kazan) is Rose's roommate.

These are funny people. There are some funny scenes. It's an interesting premise but the flaws in these characters make it less funny than it ought to be. Ultimately, it leads an incident that is almost too dark to be funny. These characters need some changes to improve their relationships. I actually love the banter between Jenny Slate and Zoe Kazan which makes their breakdown harder to take. I like the general premise but it just needs some changes.

Not a bad idea (how often are the disabled looked at with anything other than the most uncritical of perspectives, especially in our current cultural climate of moralistically competitive victim-hood?) but unfortunately done with a directorial hand which betrays a lack of confidence and maturity...yes we get the point, the blind brother is a jerk, the younger brother is a victim, the parents are insensitive, on and on and on...all the "good" characters act nervous/neurotic and/or self-hating...such is "authenticity" in America in this day and age I guess.

(The film explores the dynamics between two brothers the older(?) of whom is blind (caused by accident induced by his younger brother who then "naturally" has spent his life feeling guilty), the disabled sibling deals with his sense of powerlessness and purposelessness in life by doing charity athletic events to raise money for visually- impaired children, but he requires his younger brother (who hates athletics) to accompany him on his runs/swims/etc. to guide him. The parents, quite naturally, show concern only for the emotional needs of the disabled sibling and seem to be deaf and dumb to even overt psychological abuse of the younger sibling by the older).

The younger one has a chance hookup with a mildly unbalanced female who feels over-responsible for the death of her last boyfriend, she spends the night with him but then ditches him because she needs to focus on expiating her imaginary guilt, whereupon she begins unknowingly working with his brother and becoming romantically involved with him (an absurd lack of boundaries made apparently necessary for the plot to develop)).

Of course there are further plot twists so I won't reveal anymore that might necessitate a spoiler warning, not the worst film but not great either, kudos to the director for at least taking on something somewhat unconventional.

All star cast being what I assume is their all star selves. I love watching messy people and stories made real and just a peek into this disabled life is uh yet another story I didn't know I'd be seeing. Dope.