A Sight for Sore Eyes

I saw this film at a recent screening at a class I attended here in NY. It was a course on being able to spin a story in a tight amount of time and the instructor used this film as strong example of back story and story arch. One thing that impressed me was in this 20 min or so film, I felt like I knew everything I needed to know about all the players and cared about them all. My major is not film, but I sat with others who are majoring and they pretty much agreed that the beginning, middle and end of this short covered a lot of ground. What was a bit unclear, but may have been intentional, was what was next for the main characters. It was left for the audience to think about which was nice, but going back to my original comment, with all the back story and layout - an ending without one. We watched about 3 others and this one by far covered a back story, a character change, and a new path for the characters to go onto. A good effort and wonderful story with some respectable acting.

Kathy D

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).

In A Sight For Sore Eyes you spend time with the main character and just as you get to the point where you really dislike him,(as a woman anyway) he finally hooks up with the female lead/love interest that turns him around. Amy (the girl) did a wonderful job as playing a blind girl and she comes in and makes him finally see true love. You really want these two to kiss and have a future together and just as they do he leaves a gentleman - something his character would not have done before. Sight has a nice turn of events, not too much a chick flick but it might appeal to us women a bit more.

I was lucky enough to see this film as part of the 'shorts' program at the Wine Country festival, and I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys film, not just shorts. It's emotional but not in a cloying way, and the performances are all wonderful. I particularly liked the blind girl, she was moving without TRYING to be moving. Gary Busey was a nice surprise, I didn't expect him to come down off of his 'crazy' perch, but when he does it's really nice to witness.

Apparently they are trying to turn this into a feature, which I think is a great idea, as long as they don't recast the roles.

Shane Stanley directed this, and he did a marvelous job, I look forward to seeing more of him in the future.

I gotta say it, because no one else will. Did they do a love story on a blind person because it seems that any film focusing on the handicapped, retarded, musically challenged or simply someone who must overcome an eating disorder gets attention from the Academy or the independent film fanatics? Overall this film was enjoyable and very well done, but just when I thought I had seen all the Rainmen, My Left Foot's, Shine's and What's Eating Gilbet Grapes - Stanley comes along and adds this one to the pile of 'the world of the less fortunates.' The blind girl certainly stood her own, a memorable performance in the likes of Rush, Day Lewis & Hoffman in their roles as handicapped characters and Gary Busey was surrounded by fairly equal talent. All too often a known star jumps into a small film and completely takes you out of the moment or simply out-shines his fellow cast members. Not so here. In 'Sight' the male lead goes head-to-head with Busey in a very dramatic and well written scene and really holds his own against such a seasoned and intimidating actor, such as Busey.