"One must die as a blind person to be born again as a sighted person."      

AT FIRST SIGHT (PG-13) 

Reviewed January 16, 1999 - Check out the At First Sight Website.

Virgil Adamson (Val Kilmer) is blind.  Working as a masseur in an upstate New York resort and spa, Virgil has lived his life in visual darkness, instead feeling and hearing his way through the world.  Amy Benic (Mira Sorvino) is an overworked New York architect.  In need of some relaxation, she decides to check in at the resort where Virgil works, and signs up for a massage. 

A chance encounter.  A brief conversation.  Chemistry.  Love.

Based on a case study by Oliver Sacks (Awakenings), At First Sight is eight parts romance and two parts medical drama, as Virgil (at Amy's behest) agrees to undergo an experimental surgical procedure to reverse his blindness.  The surgery works--a bit of a miracle for Virgil--exposing him to a whole new world of light, color, and visual sensation.  As Virgil and Amy's relationship grows, however, Virgil's sight also changes who each of them are.  In learning a new way of interacting with the world, both Virgil and Amy have to re-learn how they "see" each other and the world, and it's this dynamic that At First Sight attempts to explore. 

"Okay," you're saying, "but how was the movie?"  Well, the movie was...okay.  Thanks to a radiant performance by Mira Sorvino and convincing work by Val Kilmer, the romance between Virgil and Amy is both entertaining and believable in this film.  It's easy to like these people both as individuals and as a couple, and the on-screen chemistry definitely keeps this film hopping along through most of its two+ hour runtime.  At the same time, however, there's something lacking (or distracting) in the medical drama aspect of At First Sight.  Those of you who've seen the wonderfully executed Awakenings will have a sense of how this film eventually turns, but somehow the emotional and dramatic impact we saw in Awakenings is just not here.  Am I comparing apples to oranges?  Perhaps.  But given the similarities in the narrative path of these two films, the comparison isn't a stretch.

Bottom line: At First Sight is a watchable film with a couple of very strong leading performances, but it's also a film that fails to achieve the dramatic impact it needs in order to be seen as "a classic."  To see or not to see, I guess that's the question...

Responses from cyberspace--thanks for writing!

regurgitatingcow@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "It was a great movie. My sister loves it more than I do. I think Mira Soveno needs to work on her acting a bit but other than that, fantastic" (5/6/99)

nickblaskowski@hotmail.com gives this movie  stars: "At First Sight has become one of my all time favorite movies,I am big fan of hockey and I enjoyed the Hockey parts.Val Kilmer was great,it is his best movie,go see this one you will enjoy it alot!It is kind of disturbing,though.It might make you cry,but you will enjoy it!I liked how he was able to see after all that time,it was interesting what he thought of things,and how he reacted to being able to see for the first time in his life." (1/19/99)