Ho-hum Hollywood re-do of a Hong Kong horror, wherein a blind classical violinist receives corneal transplants and, along with them, blurry visions of the world around her, other worlds, past happenings, ghosts, and whatnot. (Is it normal, doctor, to see the souls of the departed being escorted by shades to the Other Side?) Her great tragedy had always been that she could not look in the mirror and see Jessica Alba, and the tragedy continues even after she regains her sight: the movie’s creepiest moment is precisely in front of a mirror. Her great blessing, by compensation, is that she could never see herself playing the violin: one moving part only, the right shoulder joint, like a cardboard-cutout puppet, the bent arm swinging back and forth on its hinge, the rest of her body stock-still. You wonder whether Alba, to “prepare” for the part, bothered to look at concert footage of Anne-Sophie Mutter, Sarah Chang, Leila Josefowicz, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, anybody at all. With Alessandro Nivola, Parker Posey, Rade Serbedzija, and Rachel Ticotin; directed by David Moreau and Xavier Palud. (2008) — Duncan Shepherd
This movie is not currently in theaters.