This film was visually captivating from the opening sequence. It is filmed in black and white with plenty of long and luxurious artistic compositions and detail studies. The viewer follows a beautiful and neurotic woman around New York City while she attempts to complete 77 crossword puzzles in 24 hours.
The film is refreshingly bereft of dialogue. In fact, the only real dialogue is a series of answering machine messages from her mother that slowly reveal the fine points of the plot and the roots of the woman's own neurosis.
The story is told through motion, emotion, ponderous detail studies and the odd answering machine messages. I found it refreshing to watch a movie that wasn't jammed full of incessant blathering where the writer obsessively tries to show me how brilliant they are. The plot points and moral of the story aren't verbalized every 15 minutes. This ain't no 'Sea Biscuit'.
Though it may not be for everyone, I give it top marks all around.
