Customer Reviews

Thirteen Conversations About One Thing ( 13 Conversations About One Thing ) [ NON-USA FORMAT, PAL, Reg.0 Import - Australia ]

5 star:		(38)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

After directing Clockwatchers, one of the most intelligent and interesting films of the past decade, Jill Sprecher has come out with another gem. 13 Conversations is a fascinating look at the intersecting lives of a group of mostly unhappy New Yorkers. The film has similarities to Short Cuts and Magnolia, suggesting that the lives and destinies of seemingly unconnected people may be linked in some fundamental, perhaps even metaphysical way. It also has the nonlinear structure of films like Pulp Fiction. To its credit, 13 Conversations holds its own with all three of these films and is quite original in its approach. The performances are all very strong, especially Alan Arkin as a cynical manager in an insurance agency and Clea Duvall as a house cleaner with a cheerful outlook until catastrophe strikes. Matthew Mcconaughey and John Turturro are also perfectly cast. The plot (or plots) of 13 Conversations is compelling, but is secondary to the questions it raises about finding meaning and happiness in an often harsh and chaotic world. The tone of the film is often brooding, yet the message is ultimately hopeful. As in Clockwatchers, Jill Sprecher has something very significant to say about life in these times.

In spite of its seemingly depressing nature I tremendously enjoyed this movie. I believe it is the issues discussed that were able to touch deep and the quiet, restrained way in which they were portrayed. Another reason would be the beautiful ending that does not say much but leaves you with some hope for human kind...
"Thirteen conversations about one thing" lead to very coherent statements about the human condition. Each viewer, so I believe, will interpret what he saw in a slightly different manner. For me however the message was: reach out for other human beings - they are as lonely as you are; kindness, optimism and "looking at the bright side of things" have a power in spite of all and a kind word or gesture have an affect on other people - cynical as they may be; and most important: happiness is sometimes a vague term and is always better perceived at a later stage....
The movie starts with a scene whose significance will be understood at a much later stage. John Turturro, playing a physics college professor is having dinner with his wife (Amy Irving) and discusses an act of violence that he suffered, trying to analyze the horror of it all and find significance and meaning in what occured. The act itself and its impact on the professor are not clear to the viewers at this stage but will become clear later on. This is the first hint to what will be one of the movie's major themes - one event is able to shake a person down and cause a change. An irreversible change.
The movie brings us five human episodes that are entangled to one strong story. Matthew McConaughey is a young, confident attorney whose life changes on account of a car accident he causes; Clea Duval an optimistic kind young woman working as a cleaning lady who looses her faith in human kind on account of same accident. John Turturro is a college professor in search of happiness - in search of the "something" more that life has to offer. In pursuit of such happiness he leaves his wife, who is left to deal with same questions and issues, especially with the loneliness of one person in the big city. However, the most impressive acting belongs to Alan Arkin who portrays a lonely, cynical manager who has a very optimistic, good-natured employee. The employee's ability to see good in every thing hits an exposed nerve which the manager can no longer tolerate. Alan Arkin manages to deliver a round figured person including his many sides and faces, thoughts and regrets, thus forming a very realistic humane figure. Arkin is a bitter father, a manager, an ex-husband and above all a person who down beneath is kind and good, after all the masks are stripped down. Clea Duval is another great asset to this movie, able to touch us with her tender quiet portrayal of a girl who undergoes an inner turmoil.
The film is rich with metaphors and symbols that are not always evident on first viewing. One example would be the professor, Turturro writing the word "Irreversible" on the class blackboard while discussing the notion of anthrophy and giving us a hint to life realities as will become evident to him later on. Once you made your choice, consequences are irreversible, as Turturro will soon understand. Another example would be Clea Duval' s doll who always had one closed eye and suddenly appears with her two eyes open after her owner's inner change, as if to symbolize the new look on life she has. These are just two examples of what makes this movie rich and holding several layers of understanding.

If you were asked what the words "happiness" or "fate" meant to you, chances are your answer would be very different from everybody else. Not all the answers to simple or complex questions are the same, as this movie illustrates in a very creative and effective manner. "13 Conversations About One Thing" is a film that examines the daily life of human beings, and just how something so subtle or small can cause a chain reaction of events.

The movie revolves around five New Yorkers who end up getting involved with one another's life in some way. There's the public defender who in a chain of events ends up walking the path of a criminal by covering his tracks. And then there is the bitter business man who can't stand the fact that one of his workers is always happy no matter what. There's the confused college professor who fears of not living life to the fullest after being mugged. There's the happy and enthusiastic cleaning woman who believes miracles happens everyday, but has her worldview drastically changed when she is hospitalized after being hit by a car. And finally, there's the woman who has to deal with the fact that her husband is cheating on her after having his stolen wallet returned. All of this is a setup for a sad, and yet moving film about the everyday events that we overlook from time to time. And how we never really notice even the smallest chain reactions that occur everywhere.

This was a great movie to watch and kept my attention throughout. I do admit that I was confused the first time, being that the movie really isn't told in chronological order, but more set up as little separate stories. After seeing it a second time it really did help me understand more of what was transpiring. It always makes me happy to see a film like this that actually makes you think and want to re-evaluate the things you see in life.

The cast was sensational. Alan Arkin was really a joy to watch and I'm sad that he didn't get more recognition. As he is always good in what he does, this is one of his best roles in recent memory. Matthew McChonaughey is also terrific and deserves mention. John Turturro never fails to impress me and I believe he was perfect for his role. Clea Duvall really makes you sympathize with what has happened to her and you really do hope that her worldview can go back to the way it was. And last, but not least, Amy Irving really delivers an exceptional performance. The writing and directing is also very impressive as well.

The DVD has a few things to offer; not a lot, but enough to keep me content. There's a couple of trailers (including the one for the movie itself), and commentary (which I have yet to hear but am anxious to listen to). The picture and sound quality is really good and does the movie justice.

"13 Conversations About One Thing" is a highly interesting movie that can actually speak to you if you allow it to. Although it may be confusing at times, it still does more than just simply getting the job done. It makes us think, it makes us wonder, and it makes us pause in silence. Of course, this is one not everyone is going to like, but I think the movies that don't appeal to everybody are the ones worth examining. You'll never know where and when you'll find a gem. This was a very deep and emotionally charged film, and I am glad I gave it a chance. It was not time wasted, I can tell you that much.

The "one thing" this provocative 2001 independent film is about is happiness. What does it mean to be happy? And how easily, by just a chance happening, can it be taken away? There's a huge cast here and at least four intersecting stories set in urban New York on streets I recognize. It was written and directed by the sister team of Jill and Karen Sprecher and there's an edgy intelligence to the whole thing that stimulated my thinking about my own life.

The cast is huge and includes Matthew McConaughy, John Turtoro, Amy Irving, Clea DuVall and Alan Arkin. They all give outstanding performance and get deeply into their characterizations. There's a successful attorney who hurts someone in a hit and run accident and tortures himself with regrets. There's a college professor who hates the routine of his life and thinks that an affair will change things. There's a manager at an insurance company with personal problems who fires an employee just because of the employee's positive outlook on life. There's the victim of an accident who's a happy person until she's randomly struck down. There's the wife who has it all but whose marriage has failed.

The film is more than a sum total of the stories though. It's a mood that's set that lingers long after I turned off the DVD. It's a rather uncomfortable film to watch because it forces us to realize how our moments of happiness depend on random events beyond our control. I recommend it for the introspective only as it certainly doesn't leave the viewer smiling at the end. Personally, though, I loved it.

When I saw that Alan Arkin is one of the stars of this movie I made an assumption that there would be some comic relief involved -- there is none at all. This is a very serious movie with the main theme being "are you happy" -- very serious. The movie opens with a very happy lawyer having won a case and getting a serious talk from Alan Arkin about luck and happiness. He leaves the bar where's he's in, accidently hits someone with his car, believing he has killed the person he drives off in fear of prosecution, but then punishes himself. Don't worry, I haven't given anything away here -- that's how the movie opens. Thus begins the story about happiness, guilt, betrayal, and finally redemption. All the characters also begin with independent story lines that ultimately tie together in one larger theme and end up with some connection to each other. This was very well, written, very well acted, all around well done. Be prepared though when you see this, it can be a very depressing movie ... but it's worth your time for sure.

"13 Conversations About One Thing" is a remarkable `small' movie directed by Jill Sprecher. She also co-wrote it with her sister, Karen. The written word [print] and film are two entirely different art forms, which, in my opinion, is the basic reason why a book rarely translates easily into a movie. Still, if there is such a thing as a literate movie, this is certainly one of them.

Happiness is the subject of the conversations here - how to get it, how to keep it, how to lose it. Several stories connect, interconnect and weave around each other in hypnotic, enigmatic fashion, finally coming to a satisfying conclusion.

The Specher sisters see modern urban life as somewhat depressing for most people. It's not the kind of depression that prevents you from getting out of bed. It's the kind brought on by the tediousness and relentlessness of day to day living. All our creature comforts and technological advances have not, the Sprechers seem to believe, done much to make us happier.

There are not happy endings for all the memorable characters we meet in the movie, but all of them learn a great deal about the meaning and nature of this elusive emotional state. The best stories are the ones about an attorney [Matthew McConaughey] who only thinks he's happy, an insurance salesman [Alan Arkin] who thinks happiness doesn't exist, and a maid [Clea Duvall] whose innately happy and positive nature is severely threatened. The Sprechers have managed to create characters we can care about, relate to, and almost think of as real.

The cast is uniformly excellent. Special mention goes to Arkin and McConaughey.

If you are in the mood for a movie that causes you to think, this is a great choice.

13 Conversations About One Thing has many progenitors -- my all-time favorite Nashville, Magnolia, Amelie, Smoke, even -- in its shaking up of chronology -- Memento, and -- in its ensemble acting -- Gosford Park. Superficially it plays the familiar themes of random connections, the smallest casual act leading to consequences, and life's not fair. But it elevates those near banalities through a spare script, superb acting, tightly shot interior scenes, and -- when outside -- uncommon, but unmistakeable New York shots. It and its players have meanness, grace, chance, trust, tragedy, hubris, redemption, possibility and -- at its conclusion -- a lot of hope and just desserts in almost all cases. Alan Arkin as a middle-management sour insurance executive performs perhaps the most surprising of the characters' many turns and Matthew McConaughey has never been more true as an actor than when he turns his assistant district attorney character's view that the guilty must be punished continually on himself. Maybe even better than those two, however, is Clea DuVall as a housecleaner who was so close to becoming an angel on her fifth birthday that she effectively becomes one until a breeze blows a shirt aloft from her arms. And how great is it to see Amy Irving on the screen again?

Don't wait for the DVD (although you'll probably want to get it anyway for the collection); when 13 Conversations -- which seems to be in fairly limited release --gets to your town, see it.

P.S. especially recommended to REM fans, though you'll need to get deep in the credits to find out why.

what i find most admirable about jill sprecher's second film is that she and her co-writer, karen sprecher, have written characters who are not movie versions of real human beings, but seem to be the real thing. the film is beautifully structured in a way that we are allowed to weave in and out of various characters' lives and time frames without feeling like we are being shortchanged in the area of character development (as is the case in most ensemble pieces, which bombard us with stylistic cinematic flourishes to conceal hackneyed characters).

sprecher also proves herself to be an actor's director, for she is able to cull some truly remarkable performances from her cast. clea duvall glows with an almost unearthly grace and can project a staggering vulnerability and an all too human fragility when her character is faced with some of life's cruel dealings; she was the character i cared for the most, and i found my heart breaking for her at times. matthew mcconaughey gives the best performance of his career as a tormented young prosecutor who, due to a tragic event, finds that he cannot live up to the moral standards that he has been so effortlessly imposing upon others. and alan arkin is brilliant as usual in perhaps the most challenging role of the film, which is that of a bitter working stiff who is convinced that because happiness has evaded him for so much of his life, it is, by its very nature, something that is impossible to actually achieve; it simply falls upon some and eludes others.

and that is precisely what this film, for me, was about: the elusive nature of happiness. and not just its elusive nature, but its undefinable nature as well; for what is happiness to one is not necessarily happiness to another. this is what alan arkin's character in the film has difficulty coming to terms with. he views the chronically happy state of his office underling with nothing but contempt, and he describes this man as an "underachiever" for finding happiness in what he perceives to be mediocrity and the banal.

but what sprecher reveals to us through the course of this film is that happiness cannot be quantitatively and qualitatively measured and predicted as john turturro's character, a physics professor, attempts to do. there is simply no formula for success. it is not just about changing your lifestyle and escaping the drudgery of daily routine, or achieving greater worldly possessions and higher job status. indeed, by the end, sprecher manages to convince us that happiness can come with something as slight as a wave from a stranger in a subway station, or the flash of a smile from across a city street.

13 Conversations About One Thing is a genial story that begins in the home of Professor Walker (John Turturro), a physicist, who is asked by his wife what he wants. Walker responds--what all people want, happiness. The story itself is as fragmented as the actual search that many face when they search for this emotional state of joy. As the audience is initially led through the story via a number of conversations, it seems like these conversations have no relevance to one another. The story becomes awkward to the degree where a feeling of confusion grabs the audience. However, it becomes apparent that everything is interconnected as the conversations and the story continue. 13 Conversations About One Thing is a delicate experience about several characters search for happiness in daily life. These characters are supported by a terrific cast that carries the story with a intriguing script, which has been directed with an insightful hand.

What a brilliantly conceived and executed film on life, fate and the pursuit of happiness!

If you are wondering about the "one thing" in the title, well it is not simple. In fact it may not actually be one thing at all but several, and the genius of the film is that it makes you and those watching with you want to talk about what it means, thus generating a 14th conversation. The lines may have been mixed around in a visual feast of cinematic poetry but the meaning remains crystal clear. So I'd say that's the "one thing" -- meaning.

What I admire about Sprecher is that she trusts her audience wholeheartedly. She is clearly disinterested in highfalutin messages and doesn't hammer her themes to death. In fact, the best scenes in the movie aren't big revelations, dramatic monologues or directorial set pieces, but subtle character moments: a conversation that hits the right note, a glance that suggests a subtext, a smile.

The movie refused to leave my head for weeks, an impact disproportionate to the movie's quiet sombre tone. A rare film that manages to evoke emotions and provoke thinking. Buy it! Watch it! Talk about it!