|
Are you happy? How can you tell and how long will it last?
In the city that doesn't sleep five people must confront the
meaning of their own happiness. Can they create happiness
or is it just a fluke of fate that fulfils some and disappoints
other? As their intertwined stories unfold, the smallest touch
that they have on each others lives have dramatic and sometimes
permanent consequences...
13
Conversations about One Thing, is an interesting little
beast of a film. It examines just how much happiness is self
determined and just how it is reliant on the smallest affects
that others may have on our lives. It's a thoughtfully introspective
piece of cinema not unlike American Beauty in its tone
- though it lacks the latters dark humour, being almost unrelentingly
grim. If nothing else the film proves that happiness is a
temporary state only enjoyed by those who are too blind to
see that life is getting ready to kick them in the head, again.
And there in lies the films weakness.
It's difficult to find common ground with few, if any of the
characters; what I really wanted to do was slap them all with
a wet fish until they were adult enough to live by the choices
that they had made, or the crap that life had thrown at them.
It's difficult to know where I have seen such a bunch of self
obsessed morose creatures before.
That
said, due to the superb cast I did find myself drawn into
their strange little worlds. Alan Arkin plays Gene, who lives
in a glass house, but has yet to learn to throw his own emotional
stones. He looses his wife once he is separated from her by
a pane of glass, his daily world secretes him behind glass,
and it is only in the closing moments of the film, when he
finally connects to a stranger's plight (Amy Irving playing
Patricia), that he learns to connect through the glass barrier
that seems to envelope him. Mathew McConaughey plays Troy;
a district attorney who has his whole idea of justice challenged
when he accidentally runs down a girl called Beatrice (played
by Clea Duvall). McConaughey's portrayal of Troy is one of
the best performances that I think I've seen him do in a long
time. The film is book ended with John Turturro's story of
the emotionally lost Walker, who proves the point that as
soon as you stop to ask if you're happy, you cease to be so.
The
print is clean and the audio is stereo. The extras are few
just a trailer and a directors commentary. The commentary
is well worth a listen, telling you much about the ideas behind
the movie and just how difficult it was to get the film made.
Sound design and composition really add to the films overall
melancholy feeling.
So
is it worth buying? If your thing is introspective, thoughtful
movie making then this is for you. My only concern it that
the film is unrelentingly depressing, so not one to watch
is you're feeling down. If you're not depressed before the
film you may well be after watching it.
Charles
Packer
Buy
this item online
We
compare prices online so you get the cheapest
deal!
Click on the logo of the desired store below
to purchase this item.
|
|
|
£11.99
(Amazon.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£11.99
(Blahdvd.com) |
| |
|
|
|
£13.98
(Foxy.co.uk) |
| |
|
|
|
£12.89
(Thehut.com) |
| |
|
|
|
£11.99
(Moviemail-online.co.uk) |
All prices correct at time of going to press.
|
|
