"At First Sight" (1999) - Val Kilmer, Mira Sorvino...
Is there a better way to say "I love you" than by undergoing experimental surgery?
"At First Sight," with Val Kilmer and Mira Sorvino, strives to answer this question. Along the way, it delivers a moving romantic drama that can soften any heart.
Kilmer plays a blind massage therapist working at a resort spa in northern New York. Sorvino is an overworked, stressed-out architect from the Big Apple. When her co-workers convince her to take a few days off, she ends up at that very spa. They swap stories over Shiatsu massage, eventually falling for each other.
Eventually, Kilmer moves to New York City with Sorvino, to go under the knife (or, in this case, the laser) in an experimental procedure to restore his sight. As he learns to cope with this new sense, "At First Sight" gets more insightful too. Watching Kilmer adjust, the audience is pulled along for both drama (a hockey fan, Kilmer sees his first Rangers game) and some dark humor (Kilmer almost gets hit by a cab after standing in the middle of the road, watching it close in, fascinated by its changing perspective).
"At First Sight" is an emotional roller-coaster: it goes up (Kilmer and Sorvino fall in love), and down (Kilmer's over-protective sister, played by Kelly McGillis, berates Sorvino for giving him "false" hope), and back up (Kilmer can see, but he's not sure if he wants to). It even picks up passengers along the way, such as Nathan Lane as an offbeat visual therapist (to help Kilmer's eyes adjust to complex stimuli, they go to a strip club).
Kilmer shows off his acting talents more than he has in a while; in contrast to some of his earlier, goofier roles ("Willow," "Batman Forever"), his portrayal of Virgil shows true depth. Sorvino has a similar career epiphany, playing cute and charming consistently, but believably.
Even the visual effects are well-done. The camera tricks used to show things through Kilmer's eyes are technically simple, but in the context of the story are entirely appropriate. They help the viewer not only in seeing as he sees, but also to understand his perspective on the world and to identify with his character.
The romance is done splendidly, without being too sappy, and makes for a funny, charming movie. It also challenges the traditional belief that blindness is a handicap, showing that the real problem can be trying to "fix" it. The message isn't heavy-handed, and actually makes "At First Sight" a rich movie experience that's well worth seeing.
(This review was originally published in The Capaha Arrow, the student newspaper of Southeast Missouri State University.)
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