Beast Within

Beast Within is the story of a blind young man who has adapted to his condition but continually hopes for better. One day better comes along, and his true self is unveiled.

Stanley is an internally angry young man who puts on a brave and pleasant face to the world. The character, much like the film at large, has the capacity to be so much more but appears to have been crippled by the writing. It’s hard to say if it’s just lazy writing here or the failure at an attempt to fit too much into little time.

In the end, there are major turning points that don’t get enough attention or development, major plot devices that aren’t quite well explained, and major occurrences that just seem to happen. All while expecting the audience to passively accept whatever we are fed.

For instance, one of the main components of the story is a corneal transplant between the living Franca and Stanley (a procedure generally done with a cornea from a dead patient). Even if we forgive the reach on the feasibility of this and the odds of success, the actual explanation of the process isn’t clear. Why is everyone so scared? Does Franca’s donation means she looses sight in the specific eye? Does the cornea donation give Stanley sight in both eyes now? Because, he sure does start to look like he can see in both eyes? If the audience is supposed to feel the weight of the sacrifice, we should at least know what the sacrifice entails.

There are other little bits of the storytelling, just like this one, that are glazed over at best. And it’s because of the failure of the writer to actually pause and dig deep alongside the director’s failure to explore these, that causes the film to remain surface level on screen and potentially forgettable to the audience.

Then there is Baaj and Ijeoma who are in the lead roles here. Again, even if we ignore the speed at which this relationship seemed to accelerate in a manner that wasn’t properly explained to the audience, we can’t ignore the immense lack of chemistry between both characters. So when one is swearing their undying love for the other, you are not just wondering “when did this happen?” but you are also wondering “are you sure that’s the right emotion?”

Baaj does decently with the content he’s given for the character of Stanley. One of the most memorable moments in his portrayal of this character are the voice over moments. The power he’s able to relay without the reliance of body language and yet not sounding overtly forceful is commendable. Ijeoma is Ijeoma here – the role required nothing but repeated sequences of meek and naive which she did well enough.

Asides from the overwhelming low budget feel, the main handicap of this film is the writing. In the end it’s okay at best but mostly quite forgettable.