The thriller “See for Me” appears to have been created to be able to reply to the query “What would you get for those who crossed the Audrey Hepburn basic ‘Wait Till Darkish’ with a ‘Name of Responsibility’-style online game?” As ideas go, that’s definitely attention-grabbing and it’ll most certainly lure viewers to Randall Okita’s movie who’s curious to see the way it all performs out. What they will get is a film that by no means fairly manages to reside as much as its intriguing idea, thanks principally to a few key artistic selections that undercut any probability for actual emotional involvement and render it as little greater than a train in a solely reasonably creative fashion.
Our heroine is Sophie (Skyler Davenport), a downhill skier whose once-promising profession fell to items after she went legally blind. Now bitter and withdrawn, Sophie ignores her mom’s well-meaning options about returning to the slopes and as an alternative elects to take a collection of jobs housesitting mansions that can enable her to filch a few costly and simply missed gadgets she will promote for some fast money. Because the story begins, she’s reading as much as the inevitably distant mansion belonging to Debra (Laura Vandervoort) for a few days to cat-sit and hopefully make off with a bottle of wine price just a few thousand {dollars}. She has hardly arrived when she by accident locks herself outdoors and winds up using See for Me, an app that connects her with volunteers who will assist information her round by way of her telephone’s digicam. Her aide is Kelly (Jessica Parker Kennedy), a former soldier turned round-the-clock gamer who makes use of her abilities in each area to shortly get Sophie again inside.
That night time, three males—Otis (George Tchortov), Dave (Joe Pingue), and Ernie (Pascal Langdale)—break into what they assume is an unoccupied home to be able to bust open a hidden protected and liberate its contents on the orders of a fourth man (Kim Coates) on the telephone. As soon as the 2 events grow to be conscious of one another, a recreation of cat-and-mouse ensues all through the principally darkened mansion as Kelly tries to get Sophie to security, whilst Sophie herself contemplates throwing in with the thieves in alternate for a reduction.
The preliminary thought for “See for Me” is undeniably gripping—the sort of audacious idea that somebody just like the late, nice Larry Cohen might need to be reworked right into a nifty train in B-movie ingenuity. However, the screenplay by Adam Yorke and Tommy Gushue makes two key conceptual stumbles—one may be unavoidable—that forestall it from dwelling as much as its promise. The unavoidable drawback is that whereas the concept of a house invasion thriller during which a blind individual is guided with the assist of an app sounds intelligent, it doesn’t add as much as a lot as a result of it places Sophie on equal footing with the thieves manner too early, significantly diminishing the menacing potential. Maybe this might have labored within the palms of an extra visually creative filmmaker like Brian De Palma, somebody who may have nonetheless milked the idea for optimum suspense, however, Okita by no means fairly finds that subsequent stage of inspiration. We as an alternative are left ready impatiently for the presumably inevitable second when Sophie’s telephone will die and she or he shall be compelled to fend for herself without her high-tech benefit.
The opposite flaw with the movie, frankly, is Sophie herself, who’s offered in such an off-putting method that almost all viewers will discover it troublesome to root for her or her survival. I get that the movie desires to push again in opposition to the usual trope of the candy, helpless, and the plucky blind younger lady that we within the viewers are clearly meant to really feel protected in direction of all through. A lot just like the premise, that’s fascinating up to a degree. Nevertheless, the screenplay goes manner too arduous within the different route, as Sophie’s ethical ambiguity too typically curdles to the purpose the place sympathizing her turns into practically inconceivable, particularly when her self-serving conduct later finally ends up having deadly penalties for an additional character.
This, I ought to stress, is just not the fault of Davenport, who’s legally blind in actual life and can also be simply the perfect and most fascinating piece to “See for Me.” Davenport delivers an efficiency that’s typically stronger, smarter, and extra compelling than the fabric frankly deserves. Though their work is finally not sufficient to make “See for Me” something greater than a gimmick film that by no means fairly pays off, Davenport nearly makes it price watching and can go away you questioning about what they might accomplish with stronger materials.