A Sight for Sore Eyes

I watched this little picture off a friend's recommendation who knows I'm a sucker for love stories. I can't help it, I am that hopeless romantic that everybody laughs about. At first I was so turned off by Steve, (male lead) and his overall attitude toward women. He was everything in a man that I dislike, so much I wanted to turn off the film - but that was the filmmakers point. Just in the knick of time, before I could find my remote, Steve is reunited with the female lead, Amy, and he's thrown an unexpected curve ball due to her current circumstances. We've seen this formula done so many different ways in motion pictures, (learning to accept someone's inner beauty) and this attempt was very well executed. There are a few fun cameo appearances, as well, (read the cast list). I'm glad I watched through it.

I saw this film in a weekend seminar at NYU and unfortunately it was in a large room and was sandwiched with about a dozen other short films. I tried to get more information on this show and to no avail, but I really liked it. The topic or subject the instructors were giving was on 'bang for buck'/'putting it on the screen' and that's why this was in the sessions. Apparently the low budget goal is about $1,000.00 (a thousand dollars) per minute, and here they still achieved high production value and they said that this film was done for roughly $10,000.00 and was about a half hour in length. They came well under the target for low budget film-making and were able to get pro equipment and some known talent (like Busey, Zoe and Reyes). It stood well against other short films made by big named directors and actors and I'd love to know where I could see it again or get a copy (see my message board on this film).

If this isn't an attempt to fall in line with the high-end romance players, I don't know what is. In the vain of "Two Weeks Notice", "How to Loose a Guy in 10 Days" and "Why You Were Sleeping", this film pretty much covers all the above mentioned story lines but thankfully creeps into some originality with the girl's handicap. Unlike most films in this genre, Sight wraps it up in less than half an hour (it's a short) and with its high production value and good storyline you can't help but wonder how & why the studios are shelling out 40-60 million dollars on these simple "puppy-love" type flicks. Oh, in this film they didn't have Hugh Grant, Sandra Bullock or Kate Hudson so, I guess that answers that.

I would really like to have seen more in this film. Where is the taking advantage of the beautiful Latin girl who is in it for a few minutes. She is a sex symbol! And the lead girl was very hot as well and we see nothing about her in the sense of 'flesh.' There was many pretty women around and why have them if you're not going to show them for what they are. I was disappointed with all the pretty girls and no skin.

I had the chance to view this short film over the first weekend in June while visiting the expo in New York City. The theater was about two-thirds full and it screened well. Audiences laughed (especially during Busey's scene) and I think I heard a few sniffles and hmm's from the heart from time to time. I personally was touched, not to the degree as I think some of the audience was but thought it was a nice piece of work. I believe I heard that some of the producers were there shopping it as a potential full length feature film, which I think could be interesting. They wrapped up everything in the short - left you hanging at the end but I can see it as a longer film. Deborah Zoe, (a New York resident from Guiding Light) was not there as far as I could tell, which was a bit of a let down, since I enjoy her work on the soap. Anxious to see what happens here, as I am a fan of her work and now of this short film.