[Review] Eye Without a Face (2021)
It’s no secret in this technologically dominant world that our privacy has become a casualty to convenience. As criminals hide in the shadows threatening identity theft or blackmail, we’re living in the wild west when it comes to individual security. With this in mind, Ramin Niami’s Eye Without a Face (not to be confused with the 1960 classic Eyes Without a Face) presents a story that may hit a little too close to home.
Eye Without a Face follows agoraphobic creeper Henry (Dakota Shapiro) as he spends his days and nights watching his “friends,” a group of women whose webcams he has hacked. None of the women are aware that their strategically placed laptops have been compromised, and Henry has a clear view of them in their most intimate acts. One woman spends her days strumming on her guitar and her nights with her cruel sugar daddy. Another is a cam girl who Henry could easily pay for gratification, but it’s the non-sexual acts in between work hours that capture his attention. Various other women fall victim to his fantasy, as he is aware of every aspect of their lives to the point that he has convinced himself he has a real relationship with them.
The viewer spends so much time with Henry; it becomes an afterthought that he is a perverted voyeur who victimizes women, and the way he is presented is not so much as a villain but a misunderstood, sensitive, nice guy. Even as he slut shames the ladies, he does so in a way that seems like he has convinced himself he is protecting them. When his secret is revealed to his charming roommate Eric (Luke Cook) it becomes a shared fascination between the two of them instead of any sort of shameful habit.
The story moves at a glacial pace, and it isn’t until halfway through the movie that the plot is presented in a poor-mans Rear Window reveal, as Henry sees what he suspects to be a murder perpetrated by Laura (a captivating Vlada Verevko). The viewer already has doubts about the reliability of Henry as a narrator because he suffers from hallucinations of his abusive dad and lives his days in a pill-popping stupor. His neurosis and paranoia are elevated as he begins to receive videos of the webcam girls being hurt, but the truth is never too deeply hidden. Henry is afraid to leave the house, but still does so at certain times of the night, in scenes that feel disconnected and ultimately telegraph the final revelation.
Eye Without a Face feels like a pandemic era effort, and within the webcam formula, there is a certain level of ingenuity that should be applauded. The performances in the movie are top-notch, and Shapiro’s portrayal of Henry is equal parts hair-raising and empathy-inducing. The biggest downfall of the movie is the script, which thrusts in so many ideas it becomes inflated and no one concept is fully or satisfyingly executed.