Sight (2024) An inspirational true story
Director: Andrew Hyatt
Cast: Terry Chen, Greg Kinnear, Fionnula Flanagan, Danni Wang
Running time: 102 mins
Directed by Andrew Hyatt, this faith-based biopic tells the remarkable true story of Doctor Ming Wang (Terry Chen), a Chinese immigrant to the U.S. who became a world-renowned eye surgeon. It’s distributed by Angel Studios, who specialise in Christian-themed drama, though the overtly religious elements are less in evidence here than in more recent offerings such as Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot (2024).
Based on Wang’s 2016 autobiography, entitled From Darkness to Sight, the film begins in Nashville, 2008, as Wang gives a press conference before a potentially ground-breaking operation on a young Indian orphan named Kajal (Mia SwamiNathan). This gives way to a series of chronological flashbacks, detailing Wang’s difficult childhood in China during the Cultural Revolution and later his experiences at a series of American universities as he embarks on a degree in medicine.
The flashbacks are interspersed with the 2008 story. After the operation doesn’t go as planned, Wang suffers a crisis of confidence that effectively prompts him to confront his past during the flashback sequences. At the same time, Wang meets bartender Anle (Danni Wang) and the pair begin a tentative relationship, which delights his parents (Raymond Ma and Wai Ching Ho), who are constantly pushing him to find a wife.
Throughout the film, Wang is haunted by two very personal failures, as the unsuccessful operation on Kajal reminds him of how he failed to save his childhood sweetheart Lili (Sara Ye) after she disappeared during the Cultural Revolution, taken by soldiers as punishment for Wang’s defiance. Hyatt doesn’t exactly go in for subtlety in this regard, as the ghostly figure of Lili repeatedly appears in the background, hammering home her effect on Wang’s mental state.
The most interesting element of the film is the detail of Wang’s remarkable breakthrough, where he essentially uses amniotic fluid to create a type of contact lens, because amniotic fluid has healing properties. That does mean that there are occasional shots of eye surgery that may be off-putting to some audiences.
Chen makes a solid lead as Wang, though he’s maybe a little too serious at times. Fortunately, that’s offset by Greg Kinnear, who delivers a relaxed and comforting supporting performance as Wang’s best friend and colleague Dr. Misha Bartnovsky, while Danni Wang has palpable charisma as Anle, so much so that it’s a shame that the film only gives her a small handful of scenes.
In fact, there are several elements in the film that would have benefited from a little more screentime. Both of these are largely comedic – Garland Chang has an amusing handful of scenes as Wang’s younger brother, a perennial slacker who keeps coming up with money-making ideas like “Facebook for cats”, and there’s also a lot of untapped potential in the scenes with young Wang (Ben Wang) and his Chinese friends experiencing culture clash (“What’s pizza?”) when they start attending the U.S. university.
However, the main problem with the film is that its supposedly emotional conclusions are at best trite and at worst painful clichés. Worse, the ending feels rushed and leaves key elements unresolved.
As with Angel Studios’ Sound of Hope, Sight ends with some touching footage of the real life counterparts of the characters, as well as a plea from Doctor Ming Wang himself, as well as a QR code for paying the film forward (i.e. buying it online for someone) and getting access to deleted scenes as a result.
Ultimately, this is a watchable drama about an inspirational true story, but the script could probably have used another pass, as it’s hard not to be frustrated by the amount of wasted potential, particuarly with the supporting characters – we don’t even get scenes of how Ming and Misha first met.
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