The Eye (2008 English language version)

THE EYE (2008 English language version)

An American remake of a 2002 Asian film title Gin Gwai, The Eye follows a violinist named Sydney Wells who has been blind since age five due to an accident with firecrackers.  Sydney undergoes an operation, receives new corneas, and gradually reacquires the ability to see.  Soon she’s glimpsing strange shadowy figures and people who don’t seem to be real.  She eventually realizes that her new corneas have somehow enabled her to see ghosts and the shades that accompany the newly-dead into the afterlife.  Sydney grows determined to learn whose corneas she received and ultimately learns that the donor was a young Mexican woman who committed suicide.  The donor (known as a “witch” in her small community) was somewhat psychic insofar as she could see the same shadowy grim reapers that Sydney perceives and predict some deaths.  En route back to the United States from Mexico (where she and her doctor visited the donor’s mother), Sydney realizes that she’s meant to save many lives from an accident that’s about to occur.

The Eye is neither awful nor wonderful.  It’s a competently-made project with some chilling imagery (one scene in which Sydney’s stuck in an elevator with a ghost got under my skin) and a somewhat passive protagonist (at a couple of key points, Sydney’s doctor becomes the most active character).  There are worse ways to spend ninety minutes or so.  I would’ve liked some clarification on the rules of the spirits’ existences (some seem earthbound while others get escorted away by the reapers and are never seen again).  I’ll probably seek out the original Asian version of this tale at some point and watch it with subtitles.  If you’re in the mood to see Jessica Alba play a musician who must deal with a newfound ability to glimpse ghosts, you might enjoy The Eye.  I recommend the film with some reservations.