Blink (1993)

Emma, a blind violinist who had recently undergone a revolutionary surgery, joins with a police detective to track a serial killer after she was an inadvertent witness to his latest crime.

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:

woman | suspense | north american giallo | giallo | police | 

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Taglines:

What you can't see, can kill you.

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Genres:

Crime | Drama | Mystery | 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:

Treptaj

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$11,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$4,410,077, 30 January 1994

Gross USA:

$16,696,219

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$16,696,219

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

Dana Stevens's research into the screenplay revealed that delayed vision is not fictitious.

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Goofs

Emma Brody's address is listed as being on "West Damen". In Chicago, Damen runs north/south not east/west.

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Quotes

Emma Brody: I can't see things that are right in front of me, and I can see things that couldn't be there.

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Connections

Referenced in 24x36: A Movie About Movie Posters (2016)

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Soundtracks

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

User Reviews

I can't see things that are right in front of me, and I can see things that couldn't be there.

Blink is directed by Michael Apted and written by Dana Stevens. It stars Madeleine Stowe, Aidan Quinn, James Remar, Paul Dillon, Peter Friedman, Bruce A. Young and Laurie Metcalfe. Music is by Brad Fiedel and cinematography by Dante Spinotti. Story sees Stowe as Emma Brody, who after being blind for 20 years receives a double cornea transplant that mostly restores her sight. However, she's subject to something known as "retroactive vision" which means that what her blurry vision at first sees doesn't register to the brain sometime later. A problem, now, because there has been a murder committed upstairs at her apartment complex and she's the only "eye" witness to the murderer.

It's all set up to be a standard woman in peril thriller, the kind that drops into the cinema on a yearly basis. But thanks to some technical smarts and a terrific performance by Stowe, Blink is one of the better films from this particular sub-genre. It's a bit saggy in the middle, where, probably thanks to the success of Basic Instint and Sea of Love in the five years previously, Apted and co try to turn it into an "erotic" thriller as Stowe and Quinn's surly copper form a relationship, but it's genuinely tense and the novelty of Emma's unusual affliction never wears thin.

Apted and his team have devised a unique visual effect that lets us see the world through Emma's unusual eyes, and the result is very unsettling. Blurry focus blends with wobbly vision and this allows for scary moments that stretch the concept across the films running time. It's of course a hokey premise, and the formula at the core of the plot is nothing new, but the character of Emma, coupled with her "affliction" is. Emma is no poor victim looking for sympathy, she's spunky, sexy and not suffering fools gladly. She lives as an independent, plays fiddle in a Celtic rock band (The Drovers playing themselves) and is full of feminine whiles. Stowe really gets to grips with the character and convinces fully. Quinn is OK, plays sarcastic and moody with ease, while Apted has a keen eye for the Chicago locale and Spinotti's photography is gorgeous in colour tones.

It needed a better, more frantic, ending, and that over played mid-section stops it from being from the top draw of thrillers, but otherwise it's well worth a look for potential first time viewers. 7/10