At First Sight Shows Promise
But Lacks Vision

For a man who cannot see, Virgil Adamson (Val Kilmer) has a wonderful view of the world. He uses his other senses to experience life, even if he doesn't have the full picture. Into this dark world comes a glimmer of hope, but Virgil may have to learn to cope with a change in perception that is bigger than just learning to see.

In At First Sight, a romantic/drama based on a true story, Mira Sorvino plays Amy Benic, an architect who escapes the pressure of New York City to spend a few days at a spa in the country. While there, she meets a masseur (Virgil) who -- to her surprise -- is blind. Taken with his charming, gentle nature, she starts to fall in love with him. (I love any movie that makes the handicapped look sexy, but that's just me!)

Not surprisingly, as Amy begins to discover more about Virgil's type of blindness, she discovers a doctor in New York who may be able to restore his sight. Virgil willingly accepts the challenge, even though his childhood was filled with empty promises and shattered dreams. When his sight is restored, however, he finds that a lifetime of blindness has left him unable to make visual associations, and he has trouble seeing reality as we perceive it.

While At First Sight is -- at heart -- a love story, it really is a wonderful film in its ability to show life in blindness without getting bogged down in the minutia of everyday life. Virgil is a sympathetic (not pathetic) character, who accepts his handicap without self-pity. At one point he jokes that he can't play the piano like Ray Charles, or sing like Stevie Wonder. And yet, when he takes Amy on a tour of his small town, he can't tell her what is beyond the main street. For him, his world ends at that point.

The story loses some of its momentum after Virgil's sight is restored. The difficulty of adapting to a visual world slows the story's progress. Virgil becomes edgy, the serenity that he had in his blindness is lost. Dr. Webster (Nathan Lane) is a therapist who is called to help him, but the advice amounts to little more than "It'll take time. Work on it."

Kilmer's portrayal of Virgil is well done. He is shown as confident and resourceful, but emotionally cut off from everyone else. Kilmer's interplay with his sister Jennie (Kelly McGillis) is well done, but lacks any emotion until the end of the film.

Sorvino is uninteresting. Throughout the film, I couldn't help but think that her haircut, her smile, and her voice were reminding me of someone else. It finally hit me that she was a perfect copy of Justine Bateman. After that realization, her performance was even more annoying. Lane, by contrast, was a delight. His off-hand jokes and unorthodox humor lightened a very serious film. (Robin Williams isn't the only one who can play a quirky doctor.) Unfortunately, he was underutilized, but his two scenes struck me as outstanding.

Visually, the movie is completely unremarkable. For a film about restored sight, I expected better cinematography. To my disappointment, the film completely lacked any style in that regard. Perhaps the director should have spent more time showing the world from Virgil's point of view than giving us so much angst.

MY RATING: 5 out of 10.

RATED: PG-13
RUN TIME: 140 min.