Unseen

When I opted to sit down and watch the 2023 thriller "Unseen", I had actually never heard about the movie. But the movie's synopsis sounded interesting enough, and the cover definitely was an eye-catcher. So yeah, of course I opted to sit down and watch what director Yoko Okumura had to offer.

And color me impressed. I wasn't really expecting such an entertaining movie. The storyline in "Unseen", as written by Salvatore Cardoni and Brian Rawlins, was such a refreshing approach to the stalked-in-the-woods type of movie. I really enjoyed the whole aspect of Emily (played by Midori Francis) having poor eyesight and having to rely on the eyes of Sam (played by Jolene Purdy) through video call on a battered mobile phone. It was quite a nice way of adding a very modern element, and a very well-functioning element I might add, to the movie.

I wasn't familiar with leading actresses Midori Francis and Jolene Purdy, but they really carried the movie quite well with their performances. I definitely was impressed with what I saw on the screen. The movie also has a nice appearance by Missi Pyle, whom was the only familiar face on the cast list for me.

Visually then director Yoko Okumura makes good use of distorted and blurred lenses to illustrate Emily's vision as she stumbled through the forest, depending on the eyes of Sam on the other end of the video call. "Unseen" is not a movie that uses an abundance of special effects, nor does it need to do so, as "Unseen" is a well-functioning psychological thriller. And it sort of gets under your skin and makes you feel like you're right there in the forest alongside with Emily.

I was genuinely surprised with the entertainment level from "Unseen", and it is a movie that I warmly recommend you to sit down and watch. I was genuinely and wholeheartedly entertained from beginning to end of this movie from director Yoko Okumura.

My rating of "Unseen" lands on a well-deserved seven out of ten stars.

Would have been good with just one story-line but this movie is made even better with the absolute Bat nuts crazy second story-line they decided to throw in there.

Made even better by the split second scene at the very end of the film (right before the credits) that made it the cherry on top of a very bizarre Action drama. No spoilers but look for the business card at the end and pay attention to what it says on it - both sides.

The characters in the first story-line are your average characters that you would expect in any ol' movie and it's done well. A little over the top for the male lead but good. Now the second set of characters are a hoot I tells ya. An absolute over the top performance by everyone involved and it's weirdly wonderful..

If you want a movie that's your normal affair then probably not for you but if you like the weird than this will please.

Was going to give it a 7 but that end scene bumped it up to a 7.5 - 7.8.

Enjoyable indie movie that dumps you into a real life crazy situation immediately. The concept of this is pretty cool. I won't write spoilers but it's another tech type thriller involving FaceTime to help a woman literally see thru it (thus the title).

It's cleverly directed, using split screens and some other techniques to keep the audience on edge. The characters are pretty well developed and it drives pretty solid tension throughout.

On the downside it's predictable to a certain degree, the ancillary characters are way too over the top and some of the character decisions might make you say "come on now wtf". But given that, it's effective and quick too so you don't get off track for the most part.

There's some ridiculous "suspend reality" moments and it's tries a bit too hard to be comedic with cartoonish characters but it's still effective.

I would recommend if you like a quick 75 minute run time and some thriller/action/creativity. 6.3/10.

Overall, I thought the experience was enjoyable. It had a similar feel to the movie "See For Me", which I found entertaining and engaging. The pacing was good and it kept me interested throughout. There were some great moments that made me laugh, as well as a few touching scenes that left an impression on me afterwards. All in all, it was an enjoyable experience and worth checking out if you're looking for something different from your usual fare!

I would highly recommend giving this movie a chance if you're looking for something fresh yet familiar in terms of content delivery - there is certainly enough here to keep viewers engaged without feeling overwhelmed or bored at any point during its runtime either!

This could've been a really decent movie if they stuck to one genre. It felt like they tried to make two completely different films and then somehow forcefully fit them together.

The main idea was not incredibly original, but it worked quite well. A seriously visually impaired woman is stuck in a dangerous situation and is trying to get help from a stranger through a video call. That part was mostly well done, with some forgivable flaws. (Characters making silly decisions just because with a logical step the movie would end after 20 minutes, or the fact that they tried to show the main protagonist's bad vision through an eye shaped "cutout" while nobody's vision is like that.) It had tension, it was engaging, it captured one's attention.

The connection between the two main female characters was also good, their shared journey was nicely done.

What sort of ruined it all more and more as the movie went on was the addition of the minor characters at Sam's work. At first they were just rather overdone and one dimensional. But later on they progressed into truly over the top burlesque, with zero connection to reality. And that's where the movie split into two. That sort of absurd comedy can work, but not paired with a fairly realistic thriller/drama. I get that they wanted to add obstacles, excitement on Sam's side as well, but it was really poorly done.

It's still a watchable movie, but it could've been a whole lot better with a revised script that kept the two sides more in balance.