John Lingan of Splice Today on "Blindness":
In his previous, better films City of God and The Constant Gardener, Fernando Mereilles displayed a lack of directorial subtlety that would make Spike Lee blush, but even they were no preparation for his new movie Blindness, which is an unholy symphony of bludgeoning metaphors and moral dubiousness. Blindness’ failure is so complete that it almost reaches a kind of pathetic grandeur. Here is a movie in which no aesthetic decision works, and which aims for shock, fear, and soaring emotional resonance, but instead achieves nothing but vacuous clichés. It’s a gumbo of pretentious symbolism and portentous ethics, and the most thoroughly misguided Hollywood debacle since Babel.I didn't really care for City of God or Constant Gardener, and I HATED Babel (two thirds of it, anyway.) In fact, I always hate these sprawling, hyper-earnest epics that ask us to Consider! The State! of this world! Except for "Children of Men," which was way too awesome to hate.
Did you see this movie though? And yes, I too loved Children of Men!
Posted by: A at October 3, 2008 06:25 PM