Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Blindness

Going to see X-Piles wasn't a complete waste of time. Well, the 100 minutes of tense music, enthusiastic Mulder and perpetually skeptical Scully was a waste of time, but the trailers before hand provided some very interesting prospects for the near future. Of which the most promising is Blindness.

This movie seems to have everything going for it. Literally, everything. It's directed by Fernando Meirelles. The man we can thank for the near perfect City of God, and the 2006 Oscar favorite The Constant Gardner. This Academy Award nominated director knows his stuff, if you don't believe me, watch either of the two previously mentioned movies, give me a call, and I'll say I told you so.

Blindness is based on the book of the same name, written by Portuguese Nobel Prize winner Jose Saramago, the plot follows a city wide epidemic causing blindness in 90% of the population. The city's ultimate and immediate goal becomes containment of the infection. Those afflicted are quarantined to an abandoned mental hospital, where they are left with meager food rations and no contact with the outside world. Left completely to their own devices, a sightless, savage society is formed based on greed and brutality. Power is left in the hands of those that control food and supplies. Left to their own devices, this 'society' quickly devolves and loses it's humanity (a la Lord of the Flies).

The cast offers an endless supply of some of the most talented actors in Hollywood today. The Julianne Moore (Magnolia, Boogie Nights, Children of Men) plays the wife of a Mark Ruffalo (Zodiac, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) who's infected. She follows him to the quarantined hospital, keeping her sight a secret while leading/protecting the underdogs. The film also stars the wickedly talented Gail Garcia Bernal (The King, Babel), Sandra Oh (Hard Candy, Sideways), Danny Glover and scores more. Check out the full cast here.

Blindness is set to be released September 26th and while it's not yet rated, if it stays true to Saramago's novel, it will most likely be rated R. Check out the official movie site at blindness-themovie.com.

Check out the following trailers and teasers as well (some of which feature the ridiculously awesome original score to Danny Boyle's Sunshine).

Official Trailer #2









Official Trailer #1









Teaser Scene 1







5 comments:

Cindy said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Cindy said...

i want to see this movie so bad. it looks so good. lets read the book and have a book club. please.

also, i love your blog. a ton. it probably in my top 3.

Ryan McNeil said...

Absolutely cannot wait to see this movie!

I read the book a few years ago and went ga-ga over some of the visuals it painted...and seeing some of those moments in the trailer was so sublime!

I should be seeing this one at The Toronto International Film Festival, so watch for a reaction/review in about a month on my page.

Ben said...

It looks awesome. So good.

Shannon the Movie Moxie said...

This film looks pretty awesome. Although I usually don't go for the big named films at TIFF I may have to see if I can get this one on my roster.