October 2, 2024
FILM: BLINK
DIRECTED BY: DANIEL ROHER, EDMUND STENSON
STARRING: EDITH LEMAY, SEBASTIEN PELLETIER
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Blink is a visually stunning and lovingly made documentary which follows the Pelletier family from Montreal as they travel across the world for a year. This isn’t any traditional travelogue though as it has a specific focus: to let the four children in the family see the world before three of them lose their sight. They have a rare genetic disorder which will cause their vision to gradually decrease. There is no known cure.
Considering this premise might deter some people from taking the time to go on this adventure with the family. However, Blink illustrates what a loving family can be as it struggles with a very unusual set of circumstances. The parents, Edith and Sebastien, teach their children a number of lessons which are the big takeaways from the film. One of those is seizing the day. We see how they together embrace hiking in the Nepal mountains, riding camels and visiting pyramids in Egypt, and experience the challenges of an Amazon rain forest. They also have one terrifying adventure when a suspended cable car they are riding in Ecuador breaks down, leaving them stuck in mid-air for several hours. (Ok, I’m officially done with cable cars…) Yet what is so special is the way in which Edith and Sebastien teach their children not to be afraid but to also comfort them when they are. The larger lesson is to accept what is, which certainly relates to their own eventual loss of sight.
Because this a National Geographic film you can bet that the cinematography is spectacular. Not only do we see some of the most beautiful sites in the world up close and personal but we also experience the faces of the family as they envelope themselves in their journey. There’s an intimacy here that one might think would get lost in all of the incredible settings that they visit. This combination of close and long shots is a key to the success of the film though. Since Edith and Sebastien want to provide visual memories for their children we have to experience what they are experiencing. However, it’s also necessary to feel the joy and fears they must contend with. There are plenty of moments when the children are playing, bickering, laughing, or crying. All of it is natural and expected among small kids and none of it ever overstays its welcome.
The one area I’d have liked the filmmakers (one of which is Daniel Roher, who won an Oscar for the documentary Navalny) to spend a bit more time on would be the details associated with this disease. What are its origins? If it is genetic, did Edith and Sebastien have any knowledge of people in their extended family with the same affliction? Is there any research to find a cure? However, even though some of this is lacking from the film, Blink, is still a very effective story about how one family learned to deal with the cards that life had given them. We might not know how they afforded such an extended trip (they did sleep in some less than ideal settings to save money) but we do learn how they love, experience the beauty of life while they can, and how they face fears. We can all get something from their adventures.
Blink opens in limited theatrical release this week.
FILM: BLINK
DIRECTED BY: DANIEL ROHER, EDMUND STENSON
STARRING: EDITH LEMAY, SEBASTIEN PELLETIER
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
Blink is a visually stunning and lovingly made documentary which follows the Pelletier family from Montreal as they travel across the world for a year. This isn’t any traditional travelogue though as it has a specific focus: to let the four children in the family see the world before three of them lose their sight. They have a rare genetic disorder which will cause their vision to gradually decrease. There is no known cure.
Considering this premise might deter some people from taking the time to go on this adventure with the family. However, Blink illustrates what a loving family can be as it struggles with a very unusual set of circumstances. The parents, Edith and Sebastien, teach their children a number of lessons which are the big takeaways from the film. One of those is seizing the day. We see how they together embrace hiking in the Nepal mountains, riding camels and visiting pyramids in Egypt, and experience the challenges of an Amazon rain forest. They also have one terrifying adventure when a suspended cable car they are riding in Ecuador breaks down, leaving them stuck in mid-air for several hours. (Ok, I’m officially done with cable cars…) Yet what is so special is the way in which Edith and Sebastien teach their children not to be afraid but to also comfort them when they are. The larger lesson is to accept what is, which certainly relates to their own eventual loss of sight.
Because this a National Geographic film you can bet that the cinematography is spectacular. Not only do we see some of the most beautiful sites in the world up close and personal but we also experience the faces of the family as they envelope themselves in their journey. There’s an intimacy here that one might think would get lost in all of the incredible settings that they visit. This combination of close and long shots is a key to the success of the film though. Since Edith and Sebastien want to provide visual memories for their children we have to experience what they are experiencing. However, it’s also necessary to feel the joy and fears they must contend with. There are plenty of moments when the children are playing, bickering, laughing, or crying. All of it is natural and expected among small kids and none of it ever overstays its welcome.
The one area I’d have liked the filmmakers (one of which is Daniel Roher, who won an Oscar for the documentary Navalny) to spend a bit more time on would be the details associated with this disease. What are its origins? If it is genetic, did Edith and Sebastien have any knowledge of people in their extended family with the same affliction? Is there any research to find a cure? However, even though some of this is lacking from the film, Blink, is still a very effective story about how one family learned to deal with the cards that life had given them. We might not know how they afforded such an extended trip (they did sleep in some less than ideal settings to save money) but we do learn how they love, experience the beauty of life while they can, and how they face fears. We can all get something from their adventures.
Blink opens in limited theatrical release this week.