BLINDNESS

Question

Is it just me, or does BLINDNESS look to you like a remake DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS minus the flesh-eating, ambulatory plants? Evidently it landed with a thud at Cannes, but given that's it's directed by Fernanado Meirelles (who did the exceptional CITY OF GOD) I'll probably still drag my weary ass out to see it. Seems to me that the studio is marketting it more like an M. Night Shamalyan thriller than as straight Science Fiction, a label that seems to be verbotten the way "Horror" was in the pre-SCREAM 90's.
Cheers,
B

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]Is it just me, or does BLINDNESS look to you like a remake DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS minus the flesh-eating, ambulatory plants? Evidently it landed with a thud at Cannes, but given that's it's directed by Fernanado Meirelles (who did the exceptional CITY OF ***) I'll probably still drag my weary *** out to see it. Seems to me that the studio is marketting it more like an M. Night Shamalyan thriller than as straight Science Fiction, a label that seems to be verbotten the way "Horror" was in the pre-SCREAM 90's. Cheers, B[/nq]
Brian let me refer you to a thread I started back in April that began with the following post:
So coming up, yet another brilliant "new" idea for a movie.

The world (oh, okay, sorry a city) is swept by a mysterious plague of blindness and a handful of non-blind people (maybe just one non- blind woman, it's hard to tell from the trailer) has to figure out how
to cope when an army of man-sized walking killer plants attacks
Oh, no. Sorry. No. No man-sized walking killer plants. Just the blindness part.
Of course, for anybody who knows science fiction those two things walking killer plants and world-spanning blindness go together like a triffid and some poor blind person who gets stung to death and eaten by a triffid.
I'm referring to "Day of the Triffids" a really cool book by John Whyndam, made into a dopy but moderately watchable science fiction movie back in the sixties and quite a good British series back (I think) in the eighties.
And now not being remade so much as harvested for one its key ideas and no doubt many of its blindness-related images and set-pieces (those not involved triffids) because, let's face it you can't really make a movie about a world-gone-blind without walking many of the same paths, conceptually.
By the way, the new movie is called, "Blindness" in case you might have some question as to what it was about.
It used to be that new movies would come along and I'd say, "Right thrill me." Now it's more like I tend to think, "Okay bore me." Because that seems to be the order of the day.
NMS

And I was told, in no uncertain terms, that Blindness, in fact was based on an award winning novel by Jose Saramago and was not merely a rip-off of Day of the Triffids, sans Triffids. Nay, this was, in fact, an important (whatever that means) book.
Thus, you see, we shall not be seeing this thing stacked on the shelves next to 28 Days Later and Day of the Dead and other Apocalyptic movies, which is where it belongs.
No because it's serious so it's going to go on the shelves with the "serious" dramas.
Because, you know, it's serious.
It's one of those serious movies about, like, when everybody in the world goes blind.
NMS

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Is it just me, or does BLINDNESS look to you ... the way "Horror" was in the pre-SCREAM 90's. Cheers, B[/nq]
[nq:1]Brian let me refer you to a thread I started back in April that began with the following post: ... you know, it's serious. It's one of those serious movies about, like, when everybody in the world goes blind. NMS[/nq]
I read that book. It was very distressing to read, about much more than I can imagine them getting into the film.
I'll wait until I'm a Nobel Laureate to critique it

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9 Saramago

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]Is it just me, or does BLINDNESS look to you ... the way "Horror" was in the pre-SCREAM 90's. Cheers, B[/nq]
[nq:1]Brian let me refer you to a thread I started back in April that began with the following post:[/nq]
**** you Neal. Stop leaping forward in time and snatching my thoughts out of the psychic ether.
[nq:1]So coming up, yet another brilliant "new" idea for a movie. The world (oh, okay, sorry a city) ... of man-sized walking killer plants attacks Oh, no. Sorry. No. No man-sized walking killer plants. Just the blindness part.[/nq]
Which, you have to admit, was pretty **** creepy by itself in John Wyndham's novel. Obviously, being one of the millions doomed to die of starvation would really suck, but imagine being one of the people who could still see. Coming to grips with the fact that you can't help everyone would be hard enough, but then how do you pick the people that you *do* decide to help? Surely, there's enough material there for a story.
But really, the flesh-eating, mobile plants just make it so much more fun.
[nq:1]I'm referring to "Day of the Triffids" a really cool book by John Whyndam, made into a dopy but moderately watchable science fiction movie back in the sixties and quite a good British series back (I think) in the eighties.[/nq]
I loved the 60's movie when I was a kid, but unlike INVASION OF THE BODY SNATCHERS, THE DAY THE EARTH STOOD STILL and the Quatermass movies it just really doesn't hold up. The BBC mini-series is very faithful, if a bit rushed, and came out on DVD a year or so ago. I also have a BBC radio dramatization on my Ipod, but haven't given it a listen yet.
Wyndham is one of those writers that really deserves to be better known, but his books have always been generally out of print and hard to find. I've always been thrilled whenever one has turned up at the used book stores I've always loved to haunt. I think he's one of those truly great writers of the genre who is just waiting to be (re-)discovered.
[nq:1]And I was told, in no uncertain terms, that Blindness, in fact was based on an award winning novel by ... Because, you know, it's serious. It's one of those serious movies about, like, when everybody in the world goes blind.[/nq]
Science-Fiction, which seemed like it used to get marginally more respect than Horror, seems to be the new red-headed stepchild. Damned if I know why. Maybe it's because people associate it with Pulpier elements like laser guns and robots than with more thoughtful ideas?

Cheers,
B

BLINDNESS

Top answer

Get the Weekly English Kit 📬

Related Questions