In the world of cinema I have yet to come across a decent thriller about blind people that was really able to keep me engaged and connected with the film. Luckily for me, and probably most of you in the near future, that is about to change. I was fortunate enough to catch a screening of Julia’s Eyes (Los ojos de Julia), the new Spanish thriller from writer/director Guillem Morales (The Uncertain Guest) and producer Guillermo Del Toro (Pan’s Labyrinth) and can tell your right now that it is both exciting and frustrating to watch. Why you ask? Well hit the jump for the rest of the review to find out.
Julia’s Eyes is very much a detective story with loads of suspenseful and thrilling moments. The story follows a woman named Julia (Belén Rueda-The Orphanage), who’s “suffering from a degenerative eye disease,” as she tries to figure out why her twin sister hanged herself in the basement of her home. While Julia believes her sister was murdered, no one else does and so she decides to take it upon herself to figure out who killed her sister. The problem is that as she continues to move forward in the case she begins to lose her eyesight due to some extremely stressful events and the presence of a threatening “invisible man.” Eventually, after a few unexplained deaths, Julia goes blind and now must try to find the potential killer while living in complete darkness.
While watching Julia’s eyes there were a few aspects of the film that stood out and managed to truly impress me. The first was the dark and cold atmosphere that director Morales was able to create. If it wasn’t for this atmosphere I think I would have hated the movie altogether. Julia always seemed to be in a threatening position, with someone always watching, and this almost sadistic mood is what translated well on screen. It almost made you feel like you were going blind and were stuck in an eerie place with a bunch of freaky people. It was this excellent cinematography that created this creepy atmosphere and will cause audience members to have a chilling sensation down their spine as Julia investigates her sister’s murder.
As an extension of my love of the cinematography, I have to compliment the camera work specifically when it comes to experiencing Julia’s blindness. Morales gives us an opportunity to understand what it’s like to lose your eyesight and how difficult and traumatizing it can be for an individual. Tack on the fact that there is some creepy dude lurking in the shadows and we, along with Julia, realize that nothing is more terrorizing than an invisible predator that only you know is there.
In order to convey the process of eye sight loss, Morales uses first person shots of near blindness by making the camera going in and out of focus as well as shading out about 80% of the screen. In scenes with little light we can only see shadows move, it becomes a bit more frightening since it makes you feel completely blind even though you feel you should be seeing a bit more. It’s this blinding technique which helps complete the film and gives it that air of realism.
THIS PARAGRAPH HAS A SPOILER, SKIP PARAGRAPH IF YOU DON’T WANT TO KNOW IT
One other aspect of the cinematography that I liked was when Julia escaped the killer in her sister’s house but she herself couldn’t get out because all the doors were locked and the windows boarded up. Julia decides to turn the lights off in an attempt to bring the killer down to her visual level. Unfortunately for her, the killer has a camera with a bright flash the flickers three times. As the killer pursues Julia in the dark we see her struggling blindly around the house three frames at a time. It’s actually a really cool looking effect that makes one of the most gripping parts of the film even better.
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The one major flaw and frustrating portion of the film was actually Julia herself. She could have prevented herself from going blind but instead she decided to try and figure out who killed her sister. Now while I am all for looking for the killer, it’s the fact that if stressful events cause your eyesight to get worse maybe looking for a killer isn’t the best idea. I just couldn’t buy into that whole concept but maybe the love was too strong, although she hadn’t seen her sister in six months, or maybe she thought she had superpowers and just wouldn’t go blind. While definitely unselfish in one respect, it leads to it being an extremely selfish move in another respect (to find out why you have to watch the movie). It also bothered me that she wanted to find out who killed her twin sister but really wasn’t willing or ready to face the demon himself. Julia comes off relatively strong willed yet naive in the beginning and then becomes very frail and somewhat stone faced, which I know is an odd combo.
In terms of the acting I thought it was pretty good on the whole. Belén Rueda, who played Julia, was solid for a majority of the movie but I found her emotions running a bit too wild for the type of character that Julia was. Lluís Homar, the man who played Julia’s husband, was very convincing in his role as the confident and concerned husband that would do anything for his wife but understood where to put his foot down and say no. While the rest of the cast had significantly less screen time, they all complemented the film well by filling the voids of the oddball characters.
I think you got the idea that I really enjoyed Morales’ directorial effort and his ability to realistically convey life from the perspective of a blind woman. Guillermo Del Toro has found another young director who I also believe will have a promising future in the horror/thriller genre. I’m looking forward to seeing his next film and hope it’s as visually exquisite to watch as this one.
Julia’s Eyes is one of those movies that most people will end up calling “good.” It wasn’t excellent but it also wasn’t a piece of crap. It is the artistic direction and captivating storyline that really distinguishes this film from other thrillers. While there are some definite character flaws that may bother you a lot, try look past it to so that you can experience the terror of blindness and how feeling a presence can be much scarier than seeing that very being.
Rating: A Spanish thriller that’s blindingly entertaining but whose main character is very frustrating to deal with
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