Six Degrees of Separation

In New York, the art dealers John Flanders ('Flan') Kittredge (Donald Sutherland) and Louisa ('Ouisa') Kittredge (Stockard Channing) are ready to have a business dinner with their South African friend and client Geoffrey Miller (Ian McKellen), when a wounded young black man comes to their fancy apartment telling that he had been just robbed in Central Park and asking for help. He introduces himself as Paul (Will Smith), a friend of their son and daughter in Harvard and son of Sidney Poitier, and the couple invites him to stay with them. During they night, they find that Paul is not who he claims to be. When they investigate the life of Paul, they find the hidden truth.

The first time I saw "Six Degrees of Separation" in 1993 or 1994, I was very impressed with this movie. I liked the concept of the six degrees of separation between human beings, but mostly the acting of Will Smith, Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland. The very difficult and long lines were brilliantly presented by this trio of excellent actors and actress, almost as if they were on the stage. Further, the name of Stockard Channing in a film for me is a synonymous of high quality. Today I have just seen this movie again, and I maybe I am more critical with the years, but I found the screenplay quite confused. For example, the relationships of parents and sons and daughters are extremely aggressive from the side of the Harvard students, and I have not understood the point in the story. The affection of Louisa ('Ouisa') Kittredge for Paul Poitier- Kittredge could be a projection of what she would like to receive from her apparently ungrateful son and daughter, but her daughter actually talks to her. Anyway, this movie is intriguing and original and deserves to be watched. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Seis Graus de Separação" ("Six Degrees of Separation")

This movie is absolutely stunning. Very original in plot, colors, and directing, with a superb soundtrack. It discusses how we are all no more then 6 degrees of separation from eachother. Yet this aspect is only the plot. In reality it adds another perspective on our daily lives. Through Ouisa Kittridge it teaches us how mundane our everyday events are, that we all need something drastic to happen to bring us out of sleepy everyday into a fun, exciting, new being. We are equated to John Kittridge who lives his self involved life not noticing the people around him - not the hippy couple in the park who happen to be artists, nor his kids away in college, not even his wife's true personality. Through Ouisa we are shown how we all look for something new to enter our lives, even a sham like Paul can turn us around, give a new meaning to the mundane. Of course the tango musical theme combined with extensive monologues by Paul forces viewer to dance with and listen into the characters, almost becoming one. (9+/10)

The pampered rich folk of Manhattan get skewered alive in this elegant adaptation of John Guare's hit play. Based on an amazing true story, the film concerns a wealthy Manhattan couple (Stockard Channing and Donald Sutherland) whose lives are turned upside down when a young black man (Will Smith) who claims to be a friend of their children's drops in after having been attacked in the park. He says he's Sidney Poitier's son, cooks up a gourmet meal, quotes "Catcher in the Rye," and endears himself to this couple. As the film progresses, one stunning event after another occurs, culminating in a beautifully cathartic ending. Sutherland gives one of his best performances, but it is the luminescent Channing who steals the movie. It is so nice to see this gifted actress -- looking more beautiful than ever -- in the lead as opposed to playing someone's best friend. Her impeccable timing and innate charm elevate an already dazzling screenplay to heights unimaginable. "Six Degrees of Separation" is as witty, thoughtful, and relevant as any film made the entire decade.

I saw Stockard Channing do this play on Broadway, and it remains one of the best theater experiences ever. It's really the story of her character Ouisa gradually seeing that her life is just pretty surfaces, and in meeting this young con-man with whom she makes an intense emotional connection, that she wants more than her marriage, her friends, her life. The dialogue goes like the wind and you barely get a chance to catch your breath; some of the dialogue is spoken as a soliloquy. It's John Guare's mastery of the language at its best, better than "The House of Blue Leaves." I'm much more of a movie person than a theater person, but this play really sang.

Unfortunately the translation to film is only partially successful. Whereas the play is a spoken confessional of Oiusa Kitteridge, the movie emphasizes Paul (Will Smith). Smith does a good-to-great job with this character. The transition from a verbal to a visual medium robs the language of much of its power, and rather than re-write it as a movie, it's sort of a 'half-transition,' which doesn't really please anyone. The other problem I had with it was Donald Sutherland; who wasn't half-bad. But John Cunningham, who played the role on Broadway, was sharper, harder, a GAMBLER...Sutherland just comes across as a nice guy that gets a bit upset that he's been conned. And the emotional blow that comes at the end of the play when you realize that Oiusa's perfect marriage is falling apart just doesn't come across.

Still fascinating for its premise and worth a look; even this watered-down version never fails to entertain.

I don't understand why the public and the critic didn't celebrate "Six Degrees of Separation". It is a very, very good and unusual dramatic comedy about, among other subjects, the high society life and the ambitions. I liked this film very much and I highly recommend it. However, there is a hollow ending and so I gave it a 9 out of 10. The same way a must-see.