Friday Film Review-Los Ojos De Julia (2010)

Los Ojos De Julia (Julia's Eyes) is a Spanish film following Julia, a woman with a degenerative eye disorder who has just discovered that her sister, with the same disorder, has committed suicide. Suspecting that it was, in fact, murder she begins investigating on her own. However, she soon finds herself alone, blind and living in her sisters house with only the aid of her caregiver, Ivan. Julia soon realises that she is not alone; someone with sinister intent is lurking around her house. As the film churns towards it's gory conclusion we are confronted with a few...plot holes, shall we say. The problem with thrillers is that it is necessary for the protagonists to make stupid or foolish choices, otherwise there would be no thriller. If every horror movie character vacated the premises upon learning there was  a ghost/serial killer/rapist/chain saw enthusiast in their near vicinity, well, there would be some very dull horror movies. In any case, Julia's choice to move (after having eye surgery_ into the house where both her sister, and others, have "killed themselves", (something even she doesn't believe) while being totally blind seems so completely ridiculous that it makes the rest of the film hard to believe in. Her half-hearted claim that she 'hates hospitals' just comes across as lazy writing. Even after she realises someone is in her house she refuses to leave. It's hard not to spend the latter half of the film wanting to dive into the screen and tell Julia to 'get the hell out of there!'  The photography in which we never see Ivan's face is clever but it also makes him suspicious from the get go. Even attempts to distract the audience with various creepy neighbours and a woman's face in the window fail. When the villain is finally revealed as photography-loving killer with serious mom issues it just seems too easy and cliched. That said, the final showdown between the eye-stabbing villain and Julia is tense and well crafted. The score is  another strike in favour of the film and even the somewhat odd montage of Julia and Ivan works in it's own way.  I must confess that, despite the complaints I have about Los Ojos De Julia, I thoroughly  enjoyed this film, it was tense, frightening and the characters were likable and well acted. 

Bottom Line: Not perfect, but an enjoyable couple of hours certainly.