Release Date (UK) – 12 March 2010
Certificate (UK) – 12A
Country – USA
Director – John Lee Hancock
Runtime – 128 mins
Starring – Sandra Bullock, Quinton Aaron, Tim McGraw
So finally its time for us to watch the film that has earned Sandra Bullock many awards including the Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for Best Actress, and the Oscar this Sunday most probably. Based on a true story, young overweight black teen Michael Ohr (Aaron) lives with his crack addict mother in a poor area of Memphis. When he gets into a private Christian school he is adopted by a rich middle class American family, who notice his potential to become a great American football star. Full of tear-jerking emotional moments and plot crescendos, this is Hollywood’s American Dream at its best.
The Blind Side is a dramatic u-turn for Bullock from her last film, The Proposal, which was at best a ditzy rom-com. Refreshingly tackling a more serious role, Bullock is completely believable as the dominant but loving Leigh-Anne Tuohy, in what is certainly her hardest and most emotional part to date. Newcomer Quinton Aaron is superbly cast as Michael and never exaggerates his hardship. Playing the role almost monosyllabically, he simply forgives and forgets rather than dwelling on his adversity. It’s hard to avoid comparisons with Oscar rival Precious as both films bring a young unknown performer to the forefront, playing poverty stricken teens with addict mothers. That said, The Blind Side is a much more upbeat and optimistic tale than Precious so it’s a much easier watch, and it doesn’t have the depressing aftertaste that Precious may have left you with. The other notable performance in the film comes from Jae Head as young SJ Tuohy . It’s through his friendship with the much younger SJ that Michael meets the Tuohy family; SJ is a hilariously charming boy who has some great one liners and hilarious schemes to train Michael up for the football season. Head has perfect comic timing and is definitely a youngster to keep an eye out for in future films.
The Blind Side succeeds where Invictus failed as it manages to balance sport scenes against plot perfectly and doesn’t over-exagerate the action as Invictus did with slow motion shots and amplified sounds. One criticism of The Blind Side however is that the triumphant story does at times feel clichéd, with some predictable lines, especially from Leigh-Anne. Altogether it’s an emotionally satisfying watch, but may be a little too contrived for some viewers to handle.
The Blind Side Trailer
