Blink

I'm not sure if it was way the family was portrayed, or the lack of actual scenic footage, this movie did not appeal to me.

We learn about a family and that 3 of 4 children has a degenerative vision disease that will eventually rob them of their eyesight, so the parents decide to go on a journey around the world so the kids can enjoy everything in person, rather than looking at it in a book.

While the concept of this movie is appealing, the execution wasn't so great. The trailer made you expect spectacular scenery throughout, but instead we are mainly watching the kids and parents talking and playing. It essentially comes across as a home movie rather than a National Geographic production. A lot of the places they apparently visited, are glossed over, not even shown in photos.

I want to wish the family well, and I hope the proceeds of this film go towards the research for a cure, but definitely this was more suited to the small screen like on the TLC channel, than in a movie theatre.

Like all parents, Edith Lemay and Sebastien Pelletier want to give their kids Mia, age eleven, nine-year-old Leo, Colin, age six and four-year-old Laurent the entire world. Leo is the imaginative one. Mia acts like a second mother. Colin is, they say 'a little weird'. And Laurent is their 'little philosopher'.

But unlike most kids, the world of three of the four will eventually be reduced to a small visual field, if not total darkness. Mia, Colin and Laurent have all be diagnosed with retinitis pigmentosa. There is no cure. The cells in their retinas are slowly dying so only the center will remain, should they have any vision at all.

The family, who call Montreal home, are learning to cope with what will certainly be a challenging future. They have been preparing the kids to deal with their fates. Now, you may think that Blink, the documentary feature about the Pelletier family, sounds bleak. But it is nothing of the sort, because instead of letting grief overwhelm them, Edith and Sebastien have chosen to fill their children's visual memory banks with images of the world. In that way, they hope they'll recollect what things look like when their world goes dark.

They begin the process by having their kids make a bucket list of wishes, which becomes the backbone of an adventure that takes them around the globe. And, in Blink, we join them on their beautiful journey. Obviously, almost no one would be able to afford an extended trip like this. Sebastian was fortunate in that his company was sold, enabling the family to begin their year of being nomads.

First up on the bucket list: a safari. Then, travel on a sleeper train, eat ice cream, ride horses in Mongolia. Learn how to surf. All the while, banking memories they will be able to smell, hear and see with their mind's eye, when their eyesight fails. Already, two of the kids are unable to see in the dark - they cannot even see the stars.

On a $200/day budget, they and the filmmakers lived among locals in hostels, homestays and campgrounds. They traveled by public bus and train. They hiked the Himalayas with guides, swam in roiling rivers, got lost, got stuck in cable cars. It wasn't perfect, but that's not what the family wanted. The film is told, not from a Fodor's guide to travel, but matter-of-factly from a child's guide to our big blue marble.

Rather than high-end cuisine, we're exploring ant hills and street food. A bite of a frozen candy bar sometimes is all that's needed to put a smile on a tear-streaked face. Edith, all the while prepping her kids for what a future without sight will be like, while encouraging them to continue living, and fight against the dying of the light.

An official selection of numerous worldwide film festivals, Blink is currently available for streaming on NatGeo, Hulu and Disney+.

Wonderful family movie of wonders of traveling highs ans lows with family of young children real warm and courageous family. It brought back memories from my childhood of traveling with my family of eight. The different views of the different ages of children. Amazing parents and such love and compassion and understanding of parents. Truly a film worth watching. Having the love in this family and the preparedness of what's to come even when no one can ever really be prepared of such hardship of having four children and having three of them fall to the hereditary disorder of a genetic disorder. Missing to say if parents have the disorder only that no one in the family has this just these three children. Worth the time.

With three of their young family on a declining spiral of sight loss, the Pelletier's decide to try to take something positive from the time they have left together when they can all see and visit some of the most impressive, interesting, colourful and exciting places on Earth. For the next eighty minutes or so, we follow their adventure as they take to the water and to the skies, appreciate some of the greatest natural phenomena, and probably most importantly - they have fun as a family who all know that things will soon be much less enjoyable and care-free. The parents - Édith Lemay and Sébastian Pelletier carry out quite a juggling act as they strive to create an ordinary, unexceptional environment for their youngsters whilst always conscious of what travails are yet to come. Clearly, money doesn't seem to be an issue here, and so Mia, Léo, Colin and Laurent can embark on their travelogue enthusiastically - and at times that zeal for life and for each other proves a powerful fillip for all, including us. The photography is artfully delivered showcasing some of the astonishing features that grace this world, and the conversation is restricted to snippets of chat rather than any more formal narration, and I thought that worked well - even if, at times, I felt a little like an eavesdropper. Obviously not everyone has the resources to react to an upcoming trauma as these people did, but it's not really the scale of their Phileas Fogg-ness that stands out, it's the fact that as a family, and a largely aware one at that, they manage to navigate their trip - tantrums and all - in a fashion that provides hope for a future that will be different, but will also be peppered with memories they will never forget and that will be built on pretty solid familial foundations.

Powerful stuff! If a film presentation can be heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time (and why couldn't one be, now that I reconsider?) this fascinating 83 minutes on Hulu is it.

The brilliantly titled "Blink" (do it too often in life and you'll miss it), this French Canadian true-story documents the agonizing yet amazingly-generous gift from two parents to their four children, three of whom are quickly losing their sense of sight. As they travel to various locations on our planet (while we tag along), they attempt to give those kids visual memories to carry with them after their eyes can no longer do that job.

As painfully-sad as that sounds, there is a undeniable sense of positivity and fortitude here. Amongst the gorgeous scenery, brilliant and emotional scoring, and insightful-without-being-invasive cinematography we see a growth of strength and acceptance develop in the children. As a father, it was the strength of the parents that especially impressed me. I would've been a blubbering pile of goo in a corner somewhere, but these two stayed the course, always worked as a cohesive team, gave every ounce of determination they had, and loved their children at a level not many could achieve during an ordeal like this.

PS - Bring Kleenex.