Blink (1994)

Emma is an attractive girl in her 20s who has been blind for 20 years. A new type of eye operation partially restores her sight, but she is having problems: sometimes she doesn't "remember"... See full summary »

Director:

Michael Apted

Writer:

Dana Stevens

Stars:

Madeleine Stowe, Aidan Quinn, James Remar

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Madeleine Stowe	...	Emma Brody
Aidan Quinn	...	Detective John Hallstrom
James Remar	...	Thomas Ridgely
Peter Friedman	...	Dr. Ryan Pierce
Bruce A. Young	...	Lt. Mitchell
Laurie Metcalf	...	Candice
Matt Roth	...	Officer Crowe
Paul Dillon	...	Neal Booker
Michael P. Byrne	...	Barry
Anthony Cannata	...	Ned
Greg Noonan	...	Frank
Heather Schwartz	...	Young Emma
Marilyn Dodds Frank	...	Emma's Mother
Michael Stuart Kirkpatrick	...	Michael
Sean C. Cleland	...	Drover

Storyline

Emma is an attractive girl in her 20s who has been blind for 20 years. A new type of eye operation partially restores her sight, but she is having problems: sometimes she doesn't "remember" what she's seen until later. One night she is awakened by a commotion upstairs. Peering out of her door, she sees a shadowy figure descending the stairs. Convinced that her neighbour has been murdered she approaches the police, only to find that she is unsure if it was just her new eyes playing tricks on her.

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Plot Keywords:

police | murder | detective | abusive mother | doctor patient relationship | 

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Taglines:

What you can't see, can kill you.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality, language and violence

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

26 January 1994 (USA)

Also Known As:

Assassínio nas Trevas

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Gross:

$16,696,219 (USA)

Company Credits

Production Co:

New Line Cinema

Technical Specs

Runtime:

106 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Julia Roberts passed on the lead role.

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Goofs

Emma's dog, Ralph, is a trained guide dog. These animals are trained to focus on assisting their owners, specifically to ignore distractions in their environment and to obey their masters instantly. Yet Ralph barks when Emma walks down the stairs, he pulls away from her in the car park to investigate something and he chases the man ignoring Emma's calls to come back. These behaviours are totally out of character for a guide dog.

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Quotes

Thomas Ridgely: [giving Hallstrom hell outside of police station after Emma ran off under his protection] She's acting this way because of YOU! Now I'm going into that station, dragging her back to her apartment, and I'm going to handcuff her to the fucking bannister!

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Connections

Referenced in Be Kind Rewind (2008)

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Soundtracks

"JERUSALEM RIDGE"
Performed by Kevin Burke
Written by Bill Monroe
Courtesy of Green Linnet Records

User Reviews

Solid and interesting thriller cum drama, though not perfect

I saw this film a while ago at least once, my and never remembered too much about it beyond the premise, on a second visit I can see why it wasn't the most memorable during my younger years, though I like it more now. The film concerns a sassy blind musician who receives an transplant and suddenly gains the chance of sight after having lost it as a child. However her vision is imperfect to begin with, with her brain not fully synchronised with her eyes and in this condition she witnesses a murderer. Its good thriller territory so far, but when the police get involved the film takes a turn into drama. The film is bolstered tremendously by the fine acting and effective dialogue but in its efforts to combine an affecting drama about romance and return of sight with a mystery suspense thriller result in the two sides slightly at odds with neither served as well as they might be. The thriller side is hampered by a lack of surprises, or intensity, with a few taut sequences not quite enough to make a truly effective thriller, whilst as a drama it lacks enough character insight or. Still, it moves along nicely and one cannot help but be caught up in it, Michael Apted directs well, making the exciting moments suitably tense and the rest of it smoothly enjoyable. The best thing here is the acting, which takes the film beyond its structural shortcomings and gives it most of its effectiveness. Madeline Stowe is excellent, sassy yet vulnerable, an affecting and sympathetic performance with a tough centre. Aidan Quinn is equally fine as the cop on the case, hardnosed and unsentimental, but a decent guy, whilst James Remar provides decent support as Quinns partner. Stowe and Quinn spark nicely off each other throughout whilst their scenes are well written. One wishes that the film had gone down the route of character piece, or thriller, or woven the two elements together to greater use, but it remains pretty fine. Recommended for fans of the main actors or early 90's thrillers.