There’s No One Like Macavity
SEE FOR ME – directed by Randall Okita – SPOILERS ⁓
Skyler Davenport as Sophie Scott and Natalie Brown as her mother.
The story is a blending of WAIT UNTIL DARK (1967) and PANIC ROOM (2002). (Davenport’s performance immediately brought Meg Altman to mind.) The film is fast-paced with plenty of gun play and no shortage of narrowly averted near-disasters.
Kelly
Sophie (Skyler Davenport) was the one of the top skiers in the U.S., but before she could compete in the Olympics she went blind. (Retinitis pigmentosa was the diagnosis.) She has since been invited to compete in the Paralympics, but has no money to pay for equipment or training. A former skiing associate named Cam (Keaton Kaplan) had been providing her with the same sort of help “See For Me” provides, but Sophie and Cam have a falling out, because Cam has ethical concerns about some of Sophie’s recent activities.
An Iraq War vet on disciplinary desk duty helps a blind woman thwart an ill-conceived home invasion that turns deadly when no one knows when to quit. (There might be some symbolism intended.)
Sophie leaving hospital with her overprotective mother (Natalie Brown) who recommends the ‘See For Me’ app.
Sophie takes a cat-sitting job in a remote area of upstate New York. On the first night after her employer Debra (Laura Vandervoort) leaves on a “pleasure trip”, an overconfident Sophie locks herself out of the house right after Debra leaves she downloads “See For Me”, an app called “See For Me” that provides a video link to a sighted person, so she can get back into the house without calling Debra for help. Using her new app to search for help, Sophie locates (Kelly played by Jessica Parker Kennedy), the soldier mentioned earlier, who has just lost a virtual battle, and is pleased to have her gaming interrupted.
Kelly helps Sophie get past the security system by hacking a sliding glass door.
KELLY: “Am I now an accessory to a B and E?”
SOPHIE: “You don’t seem too worried about that.”
KELLY: “Yeah. Well, I’ve done worse.”
We never find out what Kelly meant by that. Three guys break into the place and start drilling the safe. Initially, Sofie thinks the cat might be responsible for the noise so she activates the locator on the cat’s collar and the sound tips the burglars to her presence.
The invaders are Otis (George Tchortov), Ernie (Pascal Langdale), and Dave (Joe Pingue). Dave is the one with the large drill, and his job is to open the safe. Ernie is the tech guy in charge of dealing with the security system, and is in constant contact with the operation’s mastermind (Kim Coates). Otis is the wheelman. He comes in to help the others after Sophie is discovered.
Archie (Bentley the Cat)
In an interview with Raven Brunner of Game Rant, Director Randall Okita was asked about the fate of Archie (the gluten-allergic cat Sophie was hired to take care of). “You have to wait for the sequel to learn about the backstory of what was happening with the cat,” he responded. “People have asked about the cat. I will say this: The cat is okay. There was a lot of talk about how to tie in the cat piece. But we had to focus on the other characters.”
The film’s ending resolves some things, but is abrupt, leaving things open to interpretation.
Miscellaneous Info
Deputy Sheriff Brooks (Emily Piggford) responds to Sophie’s 911 call. | Piggford also stars as twins Emily North and Charlotte Palmer in Max McGuire’s thriller THE EVIL TWIN
Torianna Lee, Skyler Davenport’s stunt double, gets quite a workout because of all the action scenes. (She also doubled for Elliot Page in THE UMBRELLA ACADEMY.)
A bottle of expensive wine (Chambertin Grand Cru 1989) initially serves to illustrate Sophie’s conflict with Cam, and later is put to more practical use. In the film the wine is said to be worth $4500. The price has gone up since then.
“Be My Eyes” is a real app similar to the fictional “See For Me”.