Is there any part of your body you would not consider enhancing? People pay plenty for nose jobs, liposuction, breast implants, and face lifts. They endure temporary physical deformity and incapacitation for a promise of future beauty and glory. So, would you also consider changing the color of your eyes?
Imagine an Asian with stand-out sapphire blue eyes. Why not a Norwegian with cat-like gold eyes? A Hispanic with deep lavender eyes? In “Caterpillar,” we follow a black man of mixed race, David Taylor, who decides it would help his sense of identity as well as help him be “seen” if he had sea green eyes.
We never know what David does for a living, but we do know he is a gay wanderer, on a journey to feel better about himself, gain some recognition, and perhaps get acceptance from his mother.
Because David can’t afford the iris change surgery, he writes Brightocular in India asking if they would perform the surgery for free based on his financial need and mixed heritage. He barters with them saying he would allow his face with the new eyes to be used in promos. Miraculously, the clinic agrees.
Producer/Director Liza Mandelup researched Bright Ocular in preparation for this documentary. She chose several patients who had signed up for this surgery and followed them before, through their travel to India and after. It was David Taylor’s openness about his life story that really epitomized the story she was looking for, so she chose David as her primary subject.
David came up with the money to fly to India and stay at the very modest Goodwill Hotel. He is a friendly guy. He meets up with a few others who will have surgery around the time he will. One is a Japanese guy who wants blue eyes. Another is an exotic dark-skinned model who wants light eyes that will make her stand out.
Throughout the lead-up to India and his return, David is embroiled in an ongoing attempt to get along with his mother in Florida. She is a hard-working house cleaner, long divorced from David’s father. When David first tells her about his plan to go to India to get green eyes, she is flummoxed. It was hard enough accepting some years ago that he was gay. Now this!
The bottom line is that David is not satisfied with the way he is, and this is hard on his mother. Instead of developing skills for a job he likes, getting counseling, volunteering, or even getting colored contacts, he is drawn to the exotic adventure of getting new eyes in India. A rebirth.
When he travels to India and is interviewed at Brightocular, the eye doc tells him about the risks of the procedure. He may get headaches and there may be problems. If so, he needs to return to the clinic right away. The eye doc also explains he wouldn’t get this done himself.
How David meets the challenges of his iris color change matches the challenges he has in his life. He has a need to be “seen” and appreciated.
The dangers of going too far with image-altering procedures are examined in this very interesting film. Like the lesson learned in “The Ugly Stepsister,” maybe what we have, in most cases, is already good enough. Yet still, lingering in my mind for David – why not just get colored contact lenses? Why risk an eye disease and/or blindness?
Credits
Director: Liza Mandelup
Producers: Jay Van Hoy, Matthew Cherchio, and Liza Mandelup
Executive Producers: Michael Cho, Mimi Rode, Tim Lee, Maria Zuckerman, Christine Connor, Ryan Heller, Michael Bloom, Bryn Mooser, and Kathryn Everett
Cinematographer: Benjamin Whatley
Featuring: David Taylor
Director of Photography: Benjamin Whatley
Editor: Alex O’Flinn
Music: Palmbomen II (Kai Hugo)
Runtime: 111 mins.
Released: Nov. 7, 2025
Official Website and how to view:
CATERPILLAR IS NOW AVAILABLE ON DEMAND
on Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, Fandango
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