Parents' Guide to See for Me

This film is a straightforward home invasion thriller whose main character happens to be visually impaired. This fact adds to the considerable tension in See for Me, and for the most part, it's exciting and satisfying. By the end, most viewers will be ready to be done with the song and dance of hiding, avoiding, surprising, and dealing with the next challenge, the next villain, the next foe to defeat, as most of the action is built around this setup of avoiding and dealing with intruders who can see Sophie but whom Sophie can't see. But the pacing and sequencing are quick and clear enough, even if not much is done creatively around the stylistics of the film. Given how the film was clearly written for a visually impaired character, it feels a bit like there are missed opportunities here, like doing something more innovative with representing Sophie's world, perspective, and experience.

As a young director, perhaps Randall Okita felt a need to be safe, not push too many boundaries, and simply deliver a solid, simple thriller. Throughout the drama and danger, nothing happens that is all that surprising or shocking. For a moment, and only a moment, the film teases going in a particularly interesting direction, but then it ditches the idea for more conventional pastures. Again, an opportunity perhaps missed. At least visually impaired actor Skylar Davenport is convincing and assured in their performance, holding down the film almost entirely (they're on-screen nearly the entire film). Sophie often feels genuinely complex, sad, and broken, but also with a hint of excitement for the future. Clearly Sophie finds herself replacing the thrills that flying down ski slopes at incredible speeds used to provide her, but she also knows she's in over her head.