Aardvark

American writer and director Kitao Sakurai makes his feature debut with this visually stunning film. The story about a blind man who lives life as fully as anybody around him without letting his disability handicap him. The film starts strongly as we witness Larry defying expectations on a hike and interacting with the people around him. However the film begins to fall apart when fiction takes over and goes down quickly to a disastrous conclusion. Sakurai should have made a documentary about Larry Lewis Jr. who's blind from birth instead of him playing a parody of himself which shows in his performance. The rest of the cast who are non-professionals or first timers come across well until the story takes an unfortunate turn that nobody can save. The best thing about the film is the work of cinematographer Aaron Kovalchik who shows a tremendous potential for a promising career. YRCinema's coverage of the AFI Fest.