Blind

I rarely watch Korean films as I find it quite boring. But sometimes, I watch. Most of the films I watch is at the normal state, not that good and not that bad. Blind is one of them.

The title said it all. Blind is based on a girl who lost her sight. The story is quite good. But there are some flaws. I think a lot of Chinese people love it, so, they decided to do a remake in Chinese version. The remake film is "The Witness". Lu Han and Yang Mi are in leading roles. The director is the same.

Although the plot is interesting, but there are a lot of flaws. So, as for me, it's the only original film which is not good as remake. But still, it's enjoyable.

All in all, because of those flaws, the film quality is not good as expected. But still, it's watchable.

"Blind" is a interesting enough thriller, with an idea that is not used to its full potential and that loses too much time on non important things.

Min Soo-ah wants to become a policewoman, but one day, when taking his foster brother back home, they have an accident, he dies and she goes blind. Cue three years later and after a fight with her foster mother, she gets into a taxi to go home, with so bad luck that the driver is actually a serial killer. She doesn't know it, and before he can get her to his dungeon, they have an accident, the car hitting a woman. They fight, because she wants to call the police. Min Soo-ah leaves the car, the man takes the hit woman and puts her in the trunk, running away. The police puts a very bitter detective to help Min Soo-ah with finding the taxi driver, without knowing that he is also the women abductor they have been searching for a while.

So, "Blind" doesn't go very far away from your typical thriller, with the exception that the story is centered on a blind woman, more than on the detectives. Sadly, the movie doesn't offer anything different apart from that, so it isn't very original. On top of that, the bad guy (played with very little flair by Yang Yeong-jo) is just your typical serial killer. He gets women, he kills them. End. He is kind of immortal when the plot asks for it, and the police is kind of stupid in their work trying to stop him. Quite sloppy actually.

On top of that, "Blind" has some of the traits that all Korean thriller have. Violence is one, even though here we don't have much. A lot of swearing is another. And the cheesy moments too. HaNeul Kim is OK as the blind woman, but probably the one that steals the show is the dog, way more expressive than some of the actors.

If you like Korean thrillers, "Blind" is a good enough example, but it's not original and falls on the same trappings than other Korean movies. Probably some other movie ("Memories of Murder", "A Bittersweet Life", "A Dirty Carnival"...) would be a better option.

A thriller isn't always about twist and turns or originality. Sometimes a thriller can be just as effective even when it is predictable.Blind gives us a main character called Min Soo-ah we feel connected to from the start.Sure the drama in her life so early on can be considered a little too much.The fact that she managed to move on while having become visually impaired is something that should be admired.(I know people who use their handicap as an excuse for everything.Then there are some who refuse to and keep going and trying to fulfill the dreams they have.And those people are inspiring).Yes,she does suffer from guilt.Given the situation that is very understandable and makes her even more likable.Of course it takes some suspension of disbelief when it comes to a blind person as a reliable witness.But the way they explained some things weren't that far fetching.At one point the killer finds out that and it's obvious our main character and another witness are in danger.Which brings us to The killer.He is is pure evil.I personally do like my villains to be unpredictable and be diverse.If it weren't for the fact that in this case it is so very effective.In one scene especially you will cry out and become angry.This emotional connection is what I want in a film especially the dark ones.It is the element that keeps you glued to your seat.So who cares if it is clichéd or not? Blind does what is supposed to do.One to recommend.

Spoilers, Spoilers, Spoilers.

Blind is a 2011 Korean movie about a blind person, who would've guessed?...More specifically, its crime-drama-thriller that revolves around the hunt for a serial killer in which said blind person is the central figure.

SPOILERS AHEAD!

The film's star (Kim Ha-Neul) is as splendid as always; she plays a former exemplary police cadet who lost both her vision and her younger directionless brother years ago due to a tragic accident which she blames herself for. As times passes, she tries to cope with the accident, and simply move forward in life, as best as possible.

Meanwhile, there is a lunatic at large that is killing and torturing young women. The police are baffled and have very few valid leads, until fate intervenes one rainy night and the blind woman comes face to face with the killer himself while he's committing a crime. She's called in for police questioning afterwards as more or less a matter of procedure. She's mostly disregarded at first until it becomes more and more clear to the detective interviewing her that she can provide valuable clues and insight to the case despite her disability.

A short time later, a young punk is also called in as a witness to the same crime that the blind woman "experienced". He can see, and his recollection of events of the crime contradicts that of the blind woman. As a result of his differing opinion of what occurred, the police have no choice to consider this another potentially invalid lead, and leave the one detective in charge of sorting it out while they utilize their man power to focus on other leads.

Now, as should be obvious at this point, both the blind woman and the young punk actually did witness the killer committing a crime, they just each "saw" it a little differently. And, the killer knows who both of them are, and knows they must be silenced, so the game of cat & mouse is on between the parties.

There's a bonding with the young punk and blind woman as they are chased by the killer; this is driven by their instincts to simply survive, but it's also augmented by the back story of them getting to know and appreciate & need each other on a more personal level (i.e. blind woman starts to look upon young punk as another "younger brother" she should take care of and help find direction in life, and the young punk looks upon the blind woman as a person he should look up to and help protect and cherish as the "older sister" he never had).

This film is not without its faults, but I think it "works" fairly well enough overall. It does what it's supposed to for the most part, and is complimented by enough suspenseful scenes throughout to keep you watching...I found the subway chase scene in particular to be highly entertaining and quite unique.

I feel this movie is definitely a worthwhile watch...so, 7 out of 10 stars for me.

I admit the most part of the movie is quite flat without giving us a high level of stimulation. The shooting style is quite different from I saw the Devil or No Mercy which are the classic of gloomy and depression type of Korean thrilling movie.

But the good things are the director ingeniously combined the two contradictory things "witnessing" and "visual impairment" to be the driving force for the development of some interesting plots, which made the story more three-dimensional and intriguing. Some impressed scenes like the use of video call to run through the thrills of the perverted murderer's subway chasing, and the last part how the lead actress confronts with the murder.

Just a minor flaw that the murder can manage to escape being filmed by any CCTV in the subway. Surprise me!