The Girl from the Naked Eye Review
Background Info
The Girl from the Naked Eye is a film by David Ren starring Jason Yee. The film is Yee’s first starring role and also starred Ron Yuan, who served as producer.The film garnered a strong reputation from the independent crowd and eventually made it’s way to a home release. but was it worth all of the hype?
Girl from the Naked Eye Trailer
Story/characters
The story to Girl from the Naked Eye is very, very basic. In fact, it’s so basic that you’ll find yourself bored with what’s going on. There is supposed to be a “mystery” as to why a young girl was killed, but there simply isn’t enough lurking in the background to pull the viewer in. It’s very noir in style, but a lot of factors don’t work well for the film and ends up making everything feel flat in the end. The real problem, however, is that the movie thinks the story is very important, and it ends up taking over most of the film, making you wonder when the next fight will take place.
The characters in the film are just as basic as the story. The lead character, Jake, is very unreasonable and makes some really weird decisions. One second he’s quiet and calm and the next he’s blowing his lid. This could have added depth to the character, but it just ends up raising more questions. Does he really only see one girl with merit? How did he get beaten up at the beginning of the film and transform into a killing machine in such a short span of time? There are too many inconsistencies in the film, and it makes it really hard to care what happens to the people in it.
Action/Choreography
Just like the plot and characters, the action in this film is just too basic and flat. The movements are precise, but lack feeling and content. There are too many instances where people randomly pull out guns and start shooting halfway into a fight. People are spared for no reason while others are just as easily killed off. The hand to hand combat isn’t particularly bad, but it really feels like a by-the-numbers sequence for the most part. I wished there was more I could tell you about how I felt, but it was really that forgettable.
Own it, Watch it, or Skip it?
The Girl from the Naked Eye tried to create something unique and gripping, but has way too many flaws holding it back to make it successful. The story is uninteresting, the characters lack depth, and the fights are passable at best. If you’re looking for a good noir film with solid fights, this isn’t it. Oh, and Sasha Grey is barely in this movie, if you’re getting it just for her. Even though it only has a runtime of 84 mins, I found myself checking to see how much more I had to endure. Don’t do the same.
Skip it
Girl From the Naked Eye DVD (US Version)
The Girl from the Naked Eye Blu-Ray (Reg.A/B/C German Version)
