‘Love,’ ‘Sight’: A Pair of Illuminating Documentaries

The Sunset 5 is presenting two documentaries--Denis Piel’s “Love Is Blind” and David Sutherland’s “Out of Sight”--that show us that life’s possibilities for the blind can be as rich as for sighted people. Very swiftly the title “Love Is Blind” takes on an ironic meaning when Margaret and Armand Bakalian discover that they, like other newlyweds, don’t know each other as well they thought they did. However, so confident were they in their marriage they allowed Piel, a renowned photographer and commercial director, to record their first year together.

The result is a tender yet eerie film--eerie in that we’re taken into a world different from ours yet so similar that we tend to forget that the Bakalians are, in fact, blind. As they learn how to adjust to each other they never refer to their lack of sight as a handicap in any aspect of their lives--even if much time is spent on Armand, a computer whiz, trying to get a job. They go about their everyday existence with confidence and dispatch: Being blind is not an issue for them.

Yet there’s no question that it deepens their bond or that they are a great deal more articulate than most young couples they resemble. Early on Margaret, who speaks in a girlish whisper, confronts Armand with his possessiveness and his need to regard her as a human being less than perfect.

We discover that at heart Margaret is steely behind her demure demeanor and that, if need be, she could probably get along without Armand. On the other hand, he’s a burly, sweet-natured guy, totally vulnerable to the woman he loves so passionately yet is resilient in coping with job-hunting.

Because the Bakalians, who live in the Sacramento area, can’t see Piel, they are remarkably uninhibited by his presence; with “Love Is Blind” we can feel we’re really watching a real-life drama unfold on a daily basis. That Piel has a special responsibility in not invading the Bakalians’ privacy is something he clearly understands; so discreet and so caring is he that he can even with ease follow the couple frequently into their bedroom.

Similarly, with the engaging, in-depth “Out of Sight,” we’re able to see a woman’s blindness as but one aspect of her overall life and personality. Feisty Diane Starin wonders whether “America is ready for a blind girl who isn’t a goody-two-shoes.” Stubbornly independent and self-assertive, the 34-year-old Starin is a Northern California horse rancher caught up in a tempestuous relationship with a weathered, macho Marlboro Man type old enough to be her father.

Aired on PBS’ “P.O.V.” in June and screened at last year’s AFI Film Fest, “Out of Sight” focuses on a blind person’s interaction with sighted people rather than intrapersonal relationships between the blind. Raised to be self-sufficient, Starin is certainly that and then some.

Yet, paradoxically, she finds herself tied to an aging, ailing alcoholic, rebelling against her plight by falling in love with a younger man. Sutherland is remarkably adept at capturing all this spikiness with a certain humor and detachment yet leaves caring very much to know what ultimately happens to Diane.

“Love Is Blind” will play for one week in the evening starting Friday. Both films screen Saturdays and Sundays at 11 a.m. in separate auditoriums.

Information: (213) 848-3500.

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Routine ‘Killer’: Clarence Fok’s “Naked Killer,” the second entry in the Monica 4-Plex’s Hong Kong Premiere Showcase, which commences a one-week run Friday, is a routine martial arts adventure-romance involving a gorgeous professional assassin (Chingmy Yau) and a cop (Simon Yam). Although sprinkled with kinky eroticism, it veers between the tedious and the arty and is best left to die-hard martial arts fans. (310) 394-9741.