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It seems that revenge is best without emotional engagement and sometimes done clothes less. This is one of the many sayings that can be found in the film of director Raoul Ruiz which lacks Forest Whitaker but possesses distinct performances from Tom Conti and Daryl Hannah. This theatricality creates a good setting for a captivating narrative that unfortunately trips close to the climax.
Because of the strict setting and the few people involved, I cannot touch on anything further without revealing some secrets of the film. I aim to gloss over everything. Conti portrays an eminent art critic and writer, Paul, who lost his eyesight in an unfortunate vehicle mishap a couple of years back. He feels the urge to pen a new book in this case, a life story but thankfully doesn’t come armed with a pack of crayons. He hires people who would portray his hand and sight until he finally decides on Jane, the character portrayed by Hannah. He admires her for her frankness and is of the opinion that he may have found the ideal book partner who can turn his timeless work into reality. However, her motives are not so prominent, but that’s the idea. Actually, Jane has something to conceal from Paul. By the time her secret is fully disclosed, not only Paul’s manuscript but everything else would be at risk too.
I admit, and I guess it is not fair, that I judge a book by its cover so to speak, I will try to watch movies for which I have not read the synopsis. It warrants stating that I reserve the right to have my first impressions shredded to pieces but this is what I do. It is Fishington all over again for Blind Revenge. The digitally created image which has Daryl Hannah superimposed over a carrot head and the title which looks like it was generated by a “direct to DVD movie generator” indeed sounds generic. And to make matters worse, Daryl Hannah and Conti, yes, the same Daryl Hannah and Conti are featured in the movie, um-oh. The posters gave me the impression of Z-grade films with entertaining value to pass a couple of hours. Boy was I mistaken, in contrast, it was a thoughtful engaging movie where the plot and its twists were developed unexpectedly.
I love films where the setting is confined to small spaces like Sleuth, Death and the Maiden, and Tape as characters circle each other and hurl verbal attacks in a competitive manner. The end result can be menacing, voyeuristic, and even darkly comical. Revenge is Blind is not as polished as the films mentioned above, but does quite a few things accurately. Take the character of Paul for instance. Adair helped Paul come to life in a very entertaining manner, and Conti handled it skillfully. Paul, claims to be a highly advanced, self-righteous, and impatient person, but comes off as a prattling old man. Many of his personal shortcomings are. By the way, we do not even begin to mind him being taken down a notch or two. Jane, in Hannah’s hands, has, by necessity, a more guarded portrayal, but she doesn’t need to lose all the fun when it gets more intense.
There’s another great aspect when it comes to Ruiz’s film: the moods and auras that he nurtures. The majority of the film takes place in Paul’s mansion, which is full of art, books, and statues. By restricting our leads to the mansion, everything outside of it disappears. Eventually, we start noticing the ways in which Jane challenges Paul’s control and the true meaning behind every sharp-edged argument. Admittedly, there are a few cases in which Ruiz attempts to stress elements that are not there. An example that comes to mind is the bath Conti scenes with Daryl Hannah’s nude performance. In one other instance, Ruiz and Adair have the leads step outside the mansion, which is a big no-no. It is a very brief excerpt, but it is a great example of how the tension created by the mystery inside the closed room is getting eased by just opening the door.
However, everything in this piece is puzzling to such an extent that the overall climax fails to work. Regardless of how advanced this piece is, Jane’s reasoning is still concealed for almost the entire movie, therefore any revelation from her perspective would be equally surprising. This is very much the case with her justification this time around too. There are some clues placed since the move started, but even with those it seems very arbitrary. It is clear that Ruiz and Adair put some surface effort into the overall movie because there were no unnecessary twists and turns such as “Oh my goodness, that person is not blind after all or ‘Both people died in the car crash and now live in purgatory’ exactly what did happen, leaves it up for personal interpretation. The point is that these cliches were avoided. Everything said and done, this is the most thrilling part of the movie. It is expected that it could have been Diaz’s professional highlight. In any case, Ruiz and Adair will not demolish anyone’s brain with their work.
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