Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her

The rest of the movie was a little too self-consciously "arty' for me, but Holly Hunter's performance made it all worthwhile. Her scene on the street was absolutely heart-stopping in its truth. The depth of her emotion is almost an embarrassment to watch. Wonderful stuff, Holly...

This film is very slow but never boring and that's a remarkable feat. The acting is superb and the stories are emotional but never too sentimental. Just some more or less tragic women's stories in modern-day life.

Of course, there are many politically correct moves, like the lesbian couple, the black husband, the blind girl, the dwarf and the beggarwoman, but this is not really annoying. The only thing that I found a bit out of reality were the overly smart kids (i.e. Rose's son and the blind daughter).

All in all, good work on women's issues by male director.

A look at the lives of several different women in five separate stories. Writer-director Rodrigo García isn't indifferent to the characters he's depicting--one can sense that he wants to dig to the very core of a woman's emotional being with these portraits--but his chapters are handled oddly, in clinical fashion. Garcia also fails show off his star-actresses to their full advantages, particularly in the cases of Calista Flockhart and Holly Hunter--both weakly used. Of the group, Cameron Diaz is the most surprising, delivering a focused, balanced portrayal of a blind woman (her crying scene, shot in close-up, is quite stunning); however, these ladies aren't the living, breathing, suffering people they're meant to be. This unreleased theatrical feature, facile though it may be, was certainly a step forward in showcasing great femme talent, but the end result is a mixed-bag. ** from ****

Some questions remain without a plausible answer: why did THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER go direct to cable TV in the US? I don't know and I'm still angry about that, since it has a great cast and was very well received in Cannes. Fortunately, it was received a limited release here in Brazil, where it was a kind of art-house hit during the time of the year when only blockbusters have their place in the sun. The secret of its success here is not hard to understand: audiences who were tired of Hollywood crap found a small, quiet dramatic comedy with a good story, some heart-breaking moments (and some very funny ones, too) and terrific performances. This is the kind of film that touches everyone, even the coldest and most serious person, making them laugh and feel deep emotions. Despite its division in five stories, all of them excellent (except the part with the lesbian, which was too small), this film is carefully paced, helping us to understand each character's emotions. And each story has an interesting link to the other.

If I had to choose my favorite part, I would have to think. The Dr. Keener story is sad and quiet, the one with Rebecca is the most thought-provoking, while the dwarf story is touching and funny, and the sister-sister story brilliantly closes the film.

If you haven't seen this yet, watch it now. There are not many good films with "women" as the main subject, but this one is one of the best I've seen. It has an eye for detail, it makes us think with its reflection about what women are nowadays (I loved Cameron Diaz guessing about what made her sister's friend committing suicide). And there are great actresses which seem to fit the role perfectly: Glenn Close, Cameron Diaz, Amy Brennemann, Kathy Baker, Holly Hunter, Calista Flockhart and Valeria Golino. I hope Rodrigo Garcia, son of famed writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, makes other great films like this.

Writer/director Rodrigo Garcia's feature film debut "Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her" might have a jarring, if too long, title, but the son of Gabriel Garcia Marquez presents a passionate work of cinematic fiction. The film presents several short stories; snapshots of women at a crossroads. One story is of a doctor who has lost sight of spiritual meaning in her life, and has elicited the assistance of a tarot card reader to help her find her way. This card reader may assist people with getting through the future with clarity, but she has one foot in the past as she watches her girlfriend succumb to a debilitating disease.

Each story intersects and overlaps the others in unique and interesting ways. The all-star cast of female talent bring to their deliberately under drawn characters some of their strongest performances, especially Calista Flockhart (at the time, fresh from "Ally McBeal") who provides her psychic character with fairy-like innocence, Kathy Baker who brings good-natured humorous curiosity to a role that could have quickly become a sociopath stalker, and Holly Hunter in an understated performance as a bank owner who contemplates the ramifications of motherhood on her life.