On the surface, Dr. Ming Wang's (Terry Chen) story is the perfect American success story, how an immigrant from China ultimately made it in the mother of all immigrant countries, the USA, through hard work and determination - and in his case it's the world's most renowned eye surgeons, a man who has developed surgicl techniques to make people see again, and thus has become a medical celebrity, if there even is such a thing. But of course there's more to the story than meets the eye (and no pun intended here): The film starts on a true high for Ming, just after he has successfully performed the world's first eyesight restoration surgery - which is enough to boost any man's ego, and rightfully so. Then though he meets Kajal (Mia SwamiNathan), an Indian girl whose eyes were destroyed by acid to make her a "better beggar" by her own mother, and who, if anyone, deserves a second chance. The project proves to be tricky though, as Kajal's eyes are in a really bad shape, but in linking her fate to his own past traumas, like how he (in flashbacks played by Jayden Zhang and later by Ben Wang) lost his girlfriend Lili (Kiana Luo and Sara Ye) during an uprising in his province and has since ever since has tried everything to make up for being unable to help her then. But Ming finds researching Kajal's case inspiring, and it actually causes him to open up, and he enters the dating game for the first time in maybe decades with bartender Anle (Danni Wong). So things are really on the up, and he even thinks he has hit a breakthrough when dealing with Kajal's case - until after surgery, she just can't see, her case proving hopeless. And this might just as well crush Ming beyond recovery ...

Ubiquitoous Hollywood actor Greg Kinnear plays Ming's partner-in-surgery, closest ally and best friend.

Not only being based on a true story but also feeling pretty real, this is nevertheless a bit of a tearjerker - but not so much because it pulls out all the genre tropes and goes full emotional to press all the right buttons but because it tells its story cleverly, perfectly marrying its main narrative to its backstory and going for a multi-layered yet comprehensive storyline. And thanks to a suitably subtl diretion and a capable cast this tactic comes to life rather beautifully, making for a very pleasant watch.

Sight will be availble to UK audiences on digital download from 23rd September.

review © by Mike Haberfelner

 

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