See for Me

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

SEE FOR ME is a home invasion thriller. It's fairly straight forward, and given it's obviously low budget, without frills. Doesn't sound very promising, does it? Well, let me tell you, the film is a brisk 92 minutes, and I'd say that all but the first 15 minutes will have you pretty much on the edge of your seat. There are several reasons for this. Yes, it's a home invasion story that we've heard before. Young lady alone in a remote house. Some bad guys break-in, not knowing she's there. The crime they are committing is potentially serious enough that if our protagonist is discovered, they are unlikely to just cut their losses and leave. They will "get rid of any loose ends." Those kinds of movies, if done well, can be exciting still, but they do feel familiar. But, what if the heroine is blind? In this case, Sophie is a competitive skier who lost her vision a few years ago. And Sophie is played by Skyler Davenport who is an actor who also lost their vision a few years ago! This immediately makes the movie more interesting. Even if you don't know the actor is blind, having the main character be blind is a nice twist; although, you experience movie-goers will say, wasn't WAIT UNTIL DARK the original blind protagonist home invasion classic? Yes, that's true, but in this case, technology plays a huge part in the events of the story (I don't want to spoil too much, but let's just say much of the film comes down to very quick, sharp thinking from Kelly (Jessica Parker Kennedy), a young lady who never even spends time at the house...intrigued? I hope so. Kelly is a funny, smart and crafty character that was also quite interesting and different.) And our heroine is not some young innocent. She's got some skeletons in her own closet and they come out in surprising ways and really mess with the home invaders. Director Randall Okita, helming what appears to be only his second feature length film, already understands that one way to downplay cliché and the "we've-seen-this-before" material is to plow right through it with no shame but a brisk pace and good performances. We can sort it out later; we're often left too breathless at the flow of events to ponder them. And, yes, this film does have a few moments where you yell at the screen at how dumb someone is being; but in retrospect, those moments were few and well out-numbered by moments when you have to admire the two women. I was pretty gripped by this film throughout. The technical aspects, while not showy, certainly outdo any budget limitations. The acting was overall solid. And the pace was **** 90 minutes went by quite quickly. Playing in just a few venues around the country, I caught it on Amazon for a modest rental price. I certainly recommend tracking it down and watching it one evening with the lights turned down. It's good, clean fun!