A Touch of Fate

TOUCH OF FATE is not one of the big Indie movies successes, nor is it a theatrical release that garnered wide audiences. Instead it is a quiet film about fate bonding people who are blindly searching for connection. Writer/director Rebecca Cook knows how to weave an intricate story into a canvas that is, well, luminous - and she does this without the usual hoopla of big name stars or expensive locations settings.

Coincidence or fate like a magnet draws the lives of three people into a bond created by a tragedy: a woman (Teri Hatcher) returns to her small North Carolina town in hopes of reclaiming a love (Daniel Green), an entertainment lawyer (Robert C. Treveiler) returns home out of guilt to his dying mother having attempted to escape his past for years, and a clairvoyant boy (Cody Newton) struggles with the sudden and tragic death of his father and overbearing love of his single mother. These individually needy people find succor in circumstances that hold lesson of coping with need, and finding forgiveness with the power of love.

Simple story, well written, and directed with control and care by Cook. Yet the genuine surprise of this film is the ensemble acting by a cast of fine actors. Teri Hatcher has a following for 'Desperate Housewives' but here she proves that she is truly a fine actress whose face communicates as much inner turmoil and emotion as the entire script. She is worth watching and the film deserves more attention. Grady Harp