The Sensation of Sight (2006)

Sick Product of a Sick System

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

I like movies about the meaning of life. Yes, they lack action, no special effects, no slick plots... just down-to-earth conversations.It's a bit odd that Finn (David Strathairn) romps about town with encyclopedias in his little red wagon, but that's the point. The movie is slow for a reason. The images drive this movie as much as the characters. Each visual is as deep as the dialog.The way Finn stops and wonders, the expressions on his face, his pauses in dialog... . The character of Finn would be a hard one to portray, but Strathairn provides a wonderful performance. Hats off to whoever cast him for the part.

Imagine that a high-school drama teacher assigns each of his class members to write a script. Rules? A small town; people with various anxieties.Do whatever you like.Then, bring the cast together to exchange scripts (no editing needed); then go. So you act out someone else's script and then periodically the drama teacher points to 2 of you and says "scene" - they come together and ad lib.The Sensation of Sight isn't close to this good. It's the worst kind of semi-experimental semi-exploratory, uh, drama.It's unwatchable.Amazing though because the protagonist and others in the cast are decent actors.

There are good points to this movie. The cast is rather impressive. Strathairn is one of the better indie actors out there and here, he does a good job. The rest of the cast obviously put their heart into it. Which brings me to the brightest thing about this film: Daniel Gillies. He simply shines in every single scene he is in. Kudos to him. In a stronger movie, he would have been nominated for an Oscar. The movie looks absolutely beautiful. Some of the shots are inspiring and moving.The problem of this film is that the story Aaron J. Wiederspahn writes and direct is long, tedious and goes in circle. For instance, Scott Wilson plays a character called Tucker with aplomb, but after a while, it's just difficult to sympathize when nothing is going on but a sort of self-pity festival.Without a doubt, the worse moment in this movie is its resolution. A long scene featuring Strathairn and Ian Somerhalder (of Lost fame, and as bad as usual) is just outrageously silly. It's probably the first time ever I didn't find Strathairn believable and the whole scene ends up being an embarrassing mess and a pathetic conclusion.What raises this movie to a four is some beautiful shots throughout the movie and Daniel Gillies' performance. I'm glad to learn that Gillies will soon direct his first movie. Hopefully, this should allow him to shine in something other than a sub par drama.

I was able to see 'The Sensation of Sight' when it opened in New York City two weeks ago and I became immediately enraptured by its honesty. Aaron Wiederspahn's screen glows with a certain purity of heart which is exactly what makes this film so different and unique... The lighting is beautiful and the music is used very effectively... Every shot is carefully composed with great attention to detail. The subtle intimate relationships between characters with conflicting needs and how they open up to one another is what makes this film so special to me aside from being technically flawless. The performances are top notch! I highly recommend it.