Skyler Davenport

(On Cable TV, December 2022) There have been a surprising number of recent thrillers/horror movies featuring disabled protagonists, and See for me is a further addition to the canon. Built around a blind protagonist who has to confront thieves in the upper-class mansion she’s house-sitting, it should be an effortless thrill machine… but it’s not. Ironically, most of this self-defeat comes from stronger characterization than usual, as our self-loathing protagonist goes to great lengths to disguise her handicap. (So does the movie, in fact—it takes ten to fifteen minutes for the film to go beyond the hints and state it outright.)  She’s prideful—the consequence of losing her sight at a late age after achieving some success as an Olympic-class skier. She’s also, more regrettably, morally flexible: Not only is she planning on ripping off the mansion’s owner before the thieves show up, she quickly makes a deal to help them out in exchange for a cut of the profits. Later events will prove that you can’t make deals with those criminals, of course, and one brutal death later we’re down to the real meat of the film: a blind girl, helped along by an online viewing-service pal, trying to survive being in the same house as some hardened criminals. Director Randall Okita does a good job at orchestrating the suspense in a tight 92-minute package and blind actress Skyler Davenport brings authenticity to her performance, but there’s only so much they can do to sand off the edges of an unlikable protagonist who starts the film by being rude to her mom, and ends it with what’s likely a chunk of the money the thieves were after. Characterization is important, but too much of it in the wrong direction can dramatically damage the extent of the audience’s involvement. While it’s refreshing to see that there’s one disabled protagonist who’s not an angel of impeccable morals and compassion, the film pushes too hard in a direction that disengages the audience. Given this, See for me ends up being a middling thriller—not terrible, but not particularly good either. I was having more fun imagining further twists (such as the helper being in on the robbery) than I was just watching the film itself.