November

I was lucky enough to see this film at the Sundance Film Festival (2004). It is a very intense thriller in which Courteney Cox (very different from her Friends work) plays a photographer whose boyfriend (the always excellent James Legros) is shot and killed in a corner store robbery.

The movie starts to get more complicated as Cox's character begins to have flashbacks of the event, replaying it in different scenarios and subtle variations. In each version, we seem to get closer to the "truth" of the actual event.

The film is small in scale, but looks and sounds terrific. I couldn't quite believe it when the director said it was shot in 15 days.

It is surprisingly emotional, while at the same time, intellectually demanding. I can't wait to see this film again when it's released. It is a movie that will undoubtedly benefit from multiple viewings. 10/10

Greg Harrison's November is one of those frustratingly opaque, reality bending sketchy thrillers where a metaphysical shudder is sent through someone's fabric of existence, in this case that of photography professor Courtney Cox. Driving home late one night, her husband (James LeGros) runs in to a Kwik-E-Mart to grab her a snack right at the same moment a burglar (Matthew Carey) brandishes a gun, and then open fires. After he's killed, you feel like the film is in for a run of the mill grieving process as she visits a therapist (Nora Dunn). Events take a detour down Twilight Zone alley though when a spooky photograph shows up amongst one of her student's portfolios, a snapshot of that very night at the store, apparently zoomed in on her husband. Who took it? Is the man actually dead? Will the film provide the concrete answers that some viewers so fervently salivate for in these types of films? Not really, as a heads up. As soon as things begin to get weird, they pretty much stay that way for the duration of the exceedingly short runtime (it clocks in under eighty minutes!). Cox's character revisits that fateful night from many different angles and impressions, either reliving it, recreating it or simply stuck in some sort of alternate time loop chain. There's a policeman played by Nick Offerman who offers little in the way of help, and she's left more or less on her own through this fractured looking glass of garbled mystic confusion. The tone and aesthetic of it are quite something though, a jerky, stark Polaroid style mood-board that evokes ones like The Jacket and Memento, with an art house industrial touch to the deliberately closeup, disoriented visuals. It's a bit maddening from the perspective of someone only looking for answers, and if that's why you came, you'll be left wringing your hands and losing sleep. If you enjoy the secrets left unravelled, and are a viewer who revels in unlocked mysteries left that way, recognizing the potent energies distilled from unexplained ambiguity, give it a go.

This definitely fits the "Diamonds in the Rough" category for me, and I hope others check it out. It stars Courteney Cox as Sophie, and James LeGros as her boyfriend Hugh. As the movie begins, they are on their way home from dinner at a restaurant, when Sophie stops the car at a corner grocery and asks Hugh to go in and get some snacks. After he is gone for a little while, the grocery is held up and three people are shot dead by the robber, including Hugh. This happens on November 7th, which is a very important date to the movie. Flash forward, and Sophie is talking to her shrink about her headaches, and the visions and flashbacks she is having. She teaches a photography class, and while showing slides in the class, a slide comes up of the corner grocery where the incident happened, with her car parked out front and her in it. This baffles her, and she calls in the police, who discover, she was the one that took the picture. hmmm, impossible you say, well not in this movie, because this is only one of three visits the movie makes to that fateful evening of November 7th, each with a different version of the actual events.

"November" was picked to play at the Sundance Film Festival, and won a few awards. It's a very low budget, shot in fifteen days on HD, and is almost a student film. The photography is awesome, with a cool soundtrack, and outstanding acting. Courteney Cox is not prettied up at all in this movie, and she reminds me so much of Margot Kidder. And I LOVE Margot Kidder. Not just in looks, because she at times is almost a dead ringer for Margot, but in her acting style too. This is a psychological thriller all the way, and some may figure this out way in advance, and others may be thoroughly confused. For me, it shows what up and coming filmmakers can do with little money, when the material they have to work with is high quality. I'm not suggesting you go out and buy this little gem, but certainly it's worth a rental. I liked it very much, and it comes with two commentaries, both very good. Check it out, if you get a chance. :)

This movie had a great structure. I liked exploring the real emotional reactions of "denial", "despair" and "acceptance" when dealing with trauma with the main character played by Courtney Cox. This movie is really difficult to talk about without giving it away and that is the one thing you don't want to happen when watching this movie. Trying to figure it out is what makes this intriguing.

I will say that the movie kept my interest and was terrific up until the ending. It is the type of ending that you can figure out so it doesn't "cheat" you. But it still wasn't a satisfying ending. Why? Because there were too many elements that were thrown in and even though I can understand why the main character would go through the thought processes that she did, I don't think that I would if I were in her shoes. That is, if I understood the ending properly.

Greetings again from the darkness. Although I never got the "Friends" fascination, I have always thought Courtney Cox has potential as a movie actress. On this one point, I believe "November" succeeds. She does have a nice screen presence, even when made out to be frumpy, deceitful and purposefully confusing.

This mess of a movie is presented by two relative new comers to the movie biz, director Greg Harrison and writer Benjamin Brand. Both may have something to offer, but it definitely is not on display here. The movie bills itself as a psychological thriller, but the best of these are smart, exciting and intense. This one is only intense for the viewer as we try to assemble the mish-mash of pieces. The M Night Shyamalan wanna-bes use Courtney's photos as clues to what really happened at the crime scene. The use of color change (Courtney's hand bag) and lens focus are also supposed to "assist" us with the timeline and understanding the real story. As the detective says in one scene, "it is too artsy for its own good".

The twists on the Anne Archer (as Courtney's mom) scene are fun to watch, James LeGros is capable as the murdered boyfriend, and the supporting cast is fine, but what kills this one is the failed presentation. I always admire filmmakers who will take a risk (there aren't enough of them), but this one proves there is little uglier than when that risk fails.