13 Conversations About One Thing

My wife and I launched immediately into a conversation about this film before the end credits had even finished rolling. It's the kind of film that makes you want to apply some of its ideas and themes to your own life and experiences.

At first I was worried. When the film began, I thought it was going to be an episodic experimental piece, with 13 different scenes each dealing with an aspect of happiness. This bothered me, because the first segment of the film left me wanting more of the same story and I would have been disappointed if the screenplay had never come back to it. However, the first few segments that seem at first to be unrelated begin to mesh in a fluid way (but never in a way that feels forced), and what happens in one begins to illuminate the actions and feelings in another.

Because of it's episodic nature, the actors don't get a lot of room to flesh out their characters, but the performances are still strong. Alan Arkin is especially good (he always is).

This one comes highly recommended.

Grade: A-

What a great film. The ties between these disparate stories are wondrously woven, and the sudden eye-opening twists are amazing. The spare music is a perfect backdrop. The acting is marvelous, with Amy Irving as the neglected wife of the melancholy professor and Alan Arkin playing the driven and lugubrious businessman with lots of problems and. I hardly realized who it was until halfway through the movie. I would compare this movie to other great art movies such as My Dinner With Andre, My Brilliant Career, Days of Heaven. It evoked in me similar emotions. If you are feeling down and want a big lift, I highly recommend this wonderful film. It deserves an 8 out of 10.

It must be quite something to know about screen writing and sit down to a blank sheet of paper. You can start with images, or characters or situations. You have to choose the type of thread and how you trace it, including the key decision about who you are. These sisters take a different approach, very writerly, very clever. They start with the simple question of happiness in a life and come at it from multiple directions, surrounding and probing it. The characters are secondary to the writer's curiosity, and the 'stories' even more incidental. Sometimes you have a film that works with the viewer to grow a world and ideas; here you simply watch as ideas grown on a page are revealed to you. Quite different, precious, but never close to lifealtering or even viscerally engaging.

The film itself superficially resembles a 'Short Cuts' or 'Things You Can Tell' in that many story lines are interwoven. But the differences are profound. Altman's projects are driven by characters and situations that touch because they ramble. The 'Things You Can Tell' project is similar to this one in that its several components are all about the same idea. But 'Things' uses the device of one woman in many bodies, each with a different actress. In this project, the device is deliberate diversity of the characters, each facet having a discernible face.

I liked it. Its not highly cinematic, rather small theater. Its not the stuff that changes one's imagination. But it is literate, refined, and well woven in terms of the words.

As to the actors and their roles, one thing all these multifaceted projects have is the option for the viewer to select a backbone. As a matter of hardwiring we reflexively choose one thread as foreground and the others as background. For me, the anchor was Beatrice, which probably tells you a lot about me. The resurrection from disillusionment (with the opening of the doll's eye!) was a bit heavy so far as the character, but DuVall as an actor really impressed me. All of these actors played characters with an unrecognized inner life. Some, like Turturro work with more self-referential techniques, but with her it seemed true.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 4: Worth watching.

The lawyer Troy (Matthew McConaughey), the actuary Gene (Alan Arkin), the physical science professor Walker (John Turturro) and the housecleaner Beatrice (Clea DuVall) have their lives connected through some sort of event. Troy meets Gene in a bar, hits Beatrice on the street and due to the accident, decides to sell his car to Walker. Through this non-chronological connection line, the viewer participates of their personal dramas, all of them relative to happiness and how unpredictable life is. In a moment, each character has a moment of happiness or expectation of a good event in his life, which is changed later due to some unexpected occurrence. The question is `Can we be happy in a world where our destiny is governed by uncertainties?' This movie is a very bitter and profound story about happiness and unpredictability of life. I saw this movie yesterday on cable television and my vote in IMDB User Rating was seven. However, I intend to see this film again (maybe on DVD) and reevaluate my review. I was not aware of the theme of this complex and almost unpleasant story and maybe my first impression was unfair. The direction and the performance of the cast are outstanding, highlighting the acting of the (always) excellent Alan Arkin.

Title (Brazil): `Treze Visões' (`Thirteen Visions')

A Robert Altman-style film, but written and directed by women. Several characters ponder what happiness means as they slog through their daily lives. The cast is impeccable, and includes Clea Duvall, Matthew Mc., John Turturro and Alan Arkin, who steals the show amid a very large cast. He plays an embittered, divorced middle manager well past retirement age with a junkie son. On a whim, Arkin commits an irresponsible act that will come back to haunt him. Duvall is an accident victim whose life can never be the same. If you like Altman movies, in all probability you will like this one. All others, beware. No wild car chases, explosions or shoot-outs here.