Review by Lars Lindahl (larsattacks@mail.com)
"Eye of the Beholder" (2000) ** (out of four)
Written and Directed by Stephan Elliot
Starring Ewan McGregor, Ashley Judd, k.d. Lang, Patrick Bergin, Genevieve Bujold, and Jason Priestley.
With a better ending it might have worked. Eye of the Beholder grabbed me with its perfectly unattractive images and held me tightly for quite a long time but ultimately took no advantage of its overpowering control. About three quarters of the way through I suddenly lost all interest. I can even pinpoint the exact moment this voyeuristic cat-and-mouse obsession film self-destructed: the unfashionably late entrance by Jason Priestley. In possibly the worst acting performance of the year, Priestley ruins this movie. His overacting is intolerable, his physical appearance is repulsive, his portrayal of a drug- addicted abuser is inexcusable. Thankfully, he only has a brief cameo role or else Eye of the Beholder would have been torture to watch. Priestley doesn't deserve all of the blame though. Writer/Director Stephan Elliot never takes his story to the next level. He skillfully throws you into the movie as quickly as possible, but he does little after that.
Elliot stretches the simple outline of the plot (man chases woman) farther than it should be stretched and because of this, the movie really goes nowhere during its one hour and forty minute running time. After a while I stopped caring about the characters in the movie because Elliot gave me no reason to. Every person in this movie is bland and one- dimensional -- the dreaded combination that makes a movie almost impossible to enjoy.
Should I have cheered for Ashley Judd's Joanna or booed her? This woman is a cold-blooded serial killer but to me Elliot wants us to root for her anyway. There are zero moments where I could have related to her, zero moments where she did something humane.
Then there is Ewan McGregor's spy character known as "The Eye." Is he the guy I should have admired? Following Joanna around, "The Eye" becomes obsessed with her and her killing habits. There are three reasons why I despised "The Eye." First off, he predictably falls in love with Joanna, a horrible person who only attracts him because of her beautiful looks. Second, he's not the brightest "hero" around. Customarily, you'd think that a spy would wear all black or disguises to hide their presence, but our friend "The Eye" walks around with a brightest red jacket you'll ever see. This seemingly minor annoyance is actually incredibly irritating. The third problem with the miserable "The Eye" is that we learn throughout the movie that his wife and child left him because he spends so much time on his computer. So you'd think the solution to that problem would be to stay away from the computer. Does "The Eye" do this? Of course not. In fact, he spends even more time on the computer and whines even more about his loss. Arrggh.
An appropriate ending could have made these characters more interesting. Perhaps if we learned more about why they did what they did, they would be more realistic and believable. But Eye of the Beholder abruptly finished as if the camera ran out of film.
What I did like was the constant eye/blind/sight imagery Elliot uses. The Australian filmmaker who brought you the colorful Prescilla: Queen of the Desert seems to be a more talented director than writer. The visuals prevent Eye of the Beholder from getting the lowest grade possible, but little else is recommended. This possible cult film should have gone straight to cable or video.
Grade: ** (out of four)
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