Blink (1994)

Director:

Michael Apted

Writer (WGA):

Dana Stevens (written by)

Release Date:

26 January 1994 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

Illusion. Deception. Murder. In the blink of an eye things are not what they seem.

Plot:

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...

Plot Keywords:

Blind | Police | Detective | Murder | Abusive Mother

Awards:

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

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby

Certification:

Finland:K-14 | South Korea:18 | Australia:M | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Germany:16 | Singapore:M18 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:18 | USA:R | Iceland:14 (original rating) | Iceland:16 (video rating) | Canada:A (Ontario)

Filming Locations:

Chicago, Illinois, USA

Company:

New Line Cinema

Trivia:

The lines quoted by Hallstrom 'For the soul is dead that slumbers,/ And things are not what they seem.' are from A Psalm of Life by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807-1882) and was first published in the Knickerbocker Magazine in October 1838.

Goofs:

Plot holes: Emma grabs a gun from the police car and fires off shots at her attacker. It is extremely unlikely that she has ever handled a gun before due to her blindness. Yet she handles the gun expertly, even managing to know that there is a safety catch and how to deactivate it.

Quotes:

Emma Brody: I have no idea what beautiful is. Music is beautiful, but the things that I see, they just, they make my head hurt. And my heart.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Be Kind Rewind (2008)

Soundtrack:

THE BOYS AND THE BABIES

Conventional premise made into an intelligent thriller!

There have been a load of psychological thrillers made in this decade, often heaped with sex and gratuitous violence. BLINK uses these familiar conventions, but becomes a powerhouse suspense flick with its convincing characters, ominous camera shots, and beautifully written script. Madeline Stowe stars as a blind violinist for a clubhouse band who is given her sight back with a fortunate (or unfortunate) corneal transplant. She has difficulty adjusting to the seeing world, having recurring images flashed back at her at inopportune times. Even with this handicap, she believes she has been an eyewitness to an escaping murderer, but her biggest feat is to convince the police department of her credibility. Aidan Quinn (an under-rated talent) plays the Chicago cop who believes her claim and falls in love with her in the process. What really stands in BLINK is the honesty in the leads' emotions, afraid to care again after the conventional one-night-stand. The atmosphere is most suspenseful, using Stowe's actual eyesight as a mystery in itself. Amidst all the crap that has been radiated from these types of films, BLINK delivers something credible for a change. Rating: Three stars.