“Emily” offers warmth and humor, amid a deep funk

An excellent movie arrives Friday (Sept. 8) on cable. The less you know about it in advance, the better.
I’ll tell you a few generalities for now, then have a spoiler alert before going any further:
“Guiding Emily” (shown here) is 9 p.m. Friday on Hallmark Movies & Mysteries, rerunning at 7 p.m. Sunday. It has an Emmy-worthy performance by Sarah Drew (who played April for nine years on “Grey’s Anatomy”) and solid work from the others.
It also has things you don’t expect in a serious story – subtlety, vibrant visuals and a dab of humor.
OK, that’s all I can say without spoilers. Go ahead and watch it or read on:
SPOILERS BELOW
There’s a sort of superhero syndrome that goes with tales about the disabled. We expect too much.
That was mentioned in “Butterflies Are Free,” a 1969 play and 1972 movie. Don Baker, blind since birth, could never live up to the standards his mother set in books about the heroic Little Donny Dark.
From stories (fiction or non-fiction), we might get raised expectations of the blind. We sort of expect super hearing, great musical talent and saintly souls.
A realistic view is more interesting. In 2019, Mark Pedowitz (then head of the CW network) discussed a talk by Lorri Bernson, a former tennis player who was blinded by diabetes. “Lorri was captivating,” he told the Television Critics Association. “And she was incredibly funny and sarcastic.”
So CW created a show (“In the Dark”) that avoided all saintliness. It was, he said, “about a very damaged, flawed, disabled woman — in many ways, not just because of her blindness.”
That’s important, Bernson told the TCA. “A person without vision can have as many quirks as a person who has sight …. We are from the same pocket of people as sighted people.”
That sort of view ripples through “Guiding Emily.” Emily (Drew) is an upbeat person in an idyllic life. Then a freak accident takes her sight; still, doctors feel, it may come back.
One scene — in which she finally realizes it won’t return – is a remarkable stretch of acting. Many people would have gone for histrionics; instead, we see the truth gradually ripple across Drew’s face.
She soon descends into a deep funk, as others try to adjust. There are no villains here, but there are some people who adapt better than others.
Let’s credit Betsy Morris for writing a subtle script and director Andy Mikita for giving it visual beauty. And credit someone for the lone gimmick: This has some narration by Eric McCormack, offering the thoughts of a guide dog who has a crush on Emily.
That’s used sparingly, but it works. It brings small bits of humor and warmth to a gentle tale of a young woman and her imperfect, unsaintly reaction to blindness.