Rating: 
Summary: one-liners
Review: Artsy film with only few memorable one-liners. Difficult to identify with the characters; creates distance between audience and movie.
Rating: 
Summary: 13 PRAISES ABOUT ONE MOVIE
Review: 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!
Rating: 
Summary: A movie for the mind
Review: As I began to watch this movie, I feared that one of it's central themes, that being "happiness", would be reduced to bumper sticker generalizations on how to get it or introduce cut and paste of stereotypical unhappy people, but this movie avoids the potential cliches of the material that it handles and makes for a very thought provoking movie that I enjoyed and will keep you thinking about it long after you've seen it. As I hate it when reviewers give too much away, I won't give away plot ocurrences, although in this movie the surprises in plot terms are so much less important than the characters who experience it. The acting is top notch, but it would be unfair not to give the highest praise to Alan Arkin who gives one of the great performances of any year and should have received an Oscar nomination. Matthew McConaughey and Clea DuVal are also outstanding in their naturalism. No over the top hystrionics here. The direction is intimate yet has scale. I was a little bothered (but it's not a huge deal) by the division of "episodes" with titles that in my mind took away from the hard work that all involved avoided when making a movie that could have turned into a didactic and meandering mess. This movie without a doubt earns its 4 stars in many levels. There were a couple of characters in the piece that, unlike all others, felt out of place and needed more meat and less behavioral theory. I won't tell you which of these characters fall under this category as you may feel differently and this movie should not be judged on my minor quibbles but on the fact that it tackles a broad subject in a very thought-proking manner and that is a rarety in American cinema. Seeing this movie reminded me of those late night conversations that you have with friends about "life", but this one happens to have a structure that makes it more than one of those sessions. See this if you enjoy characters pieces and are tired of $100 million explosion filled movies or "independent" films that are equally frustrating for different reasons. An example of the later would be Vincent Gallo's "Buffalo 66". Could people stop giving this guy money to make movies? This is one of those movies that manages to make you think and although terrible things happen in it, make you come of out the theatre in a better mood than if you'd seen a comedy that was not funny.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific Ensemble in a Provocative Conversation Starter
Review: 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-
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Mosaic
Review: First of all, I must state that this is one of the best of 2002, sadly overlooked because of its small size compared to movies like "Chicago," "The Two Towers," and "Gangs of New York." But I'm just glad that I had the chance to see it. I will never forget this moving drama that is like a mosaic of ancient Rome, different colors coming together to form one, astounding picture. Second of all, this is a movie that people who can't stand straight out drama's or character pieces or even movies with no real powerful climax shouldn't see. This is my big disclaimer for this movie. If any of those descriptions or catgories unsettle you in any way, don't continue reading this review. This is an artistic film, rather than a film meant to purely entertain. It is meant to leave you with a feeling. I certainly returned to Blockbuster to give it back with a sort of mixed happiness, and sadness knowning that happiness isn't permanant, and that I shouldn't expect it to be, or I will never be happy. Yes, this movie is about happiness. One of the greatest things about this movie was that it was made in segments, once again, much like a mosaic, seperated by lines of grout, sort of like a map. The grout in this movie was a sequence of black screens with white type on them saying thigns like "Show Me a Happy Man" and then it will play a segment with two of the main characters discussnig something like this line. It really adds a lot of artistic qualities and individuality to the film. The characters are as follows (the main ones anyway): An angry lawyer man (a brilliant Alan Arkin), a slightly cocky crime lawyer (a "pretty good" Matthew McCaughnohay), a wonderfully positive, but not for long, cleaning lady (a wonderful Clea DuVall) and a nerdy, overly-organized teacher (John Turtoro) who all go through a process of interconnecting stories, a weaved basket if you will (I love metaphors), that affect their lives in one single way...they find what happiness is, and what it is not. It is really interesting how their lives change over time. It really is a movie about thirteen discussions concerning a single topic. Okay, next on the list is this one scene I must describe to you. Throughout the movie, Alan Arkin's character is attempting to reconcile with his unconformist, druggy son. His son can't deal with the pressure and runs off into an alley after stealing a woman's purse. What he uses it for is drugs, hence his problem. He runs over into the green walled corner, a sort of creamy, mild green, and he wraps the leather strap from the purse around his arm. He starts to use heroin, and as he is applying the syringe and pressing in, there is a crane shot of the green alley and him in the off center focus of the camera. Suddenly, all of these little square pieces of white paper float all around him, like snow. He looks around, as you can see his pleasured expression on his face from the drugs. I wrote a poem about this beautifully filmed, but depressing moment. It ended with the image of "doves perched on a corpse." To me, this moment meant false happiness. Like those white pieces of paper resembled the pure fun and happiness and enjoyment all of the people around him had. But there he was, with a syringe in his arm, pushing in these great feelings because he can't get it from what he has. It adds such an important affect to the movie. Really pay attention to that seen. And the technical part of that scene that you must know is the importance of the crane/ariel shot. In this scene, it produces a sort of sepperation, like you're one of those pieces of paper falling down onto the ground next to him, saying "I'm happy and you're not!" This is probably one of the most effective scenes in a film I have ever seen. Bottom Line: This movie was deprived of acting, best picture (possibly), cinematography and script Oscars most definately, because it is one of the masterpieces of the century; absolutely, positively perfect! (I give it an A+)
Rating:
Summary: "Eighteen Inches of Personal Space"and Fate and Happiness
Review: 13 CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING is a brilliantly quiet meditation on the human plight. Writers Jill and Karen Sprecher have given us one of the more intelligent, thoughtful, challenging AND entertaining films of the last decade. No pretenses here, just a micrscopic view of several individuals whose lives intersect and in doing so teach us a lot about fate, about the concept of 'happiness', about the importance of finding the self while not alienating the other 'selves' on the planet. Jill Sprecher also directs this dream cast with a sensitive eye for Reality that happens to include dreamers as well as pessimists. In this film are some of the finest performances by such actors as Matthew McConaughey, Clea Duvall, John Turturro, Tia Texada, Amy Irving, Alex Burns, and the always superb Alan Arkin. The supporting cast is excellent and kudos are due the casting director for assembling such a fine ensemble of actors. From the opening line (short statements that define each of the sections) this film operates on the assumption that the audience is smart and that assumption is such a relief after the plethora of no-brainers that crowd the theaters. Not that this is JUST an intellectual exercise (somehow that connotes 'dry' or 'boring' to some readers): this is a tender, sensitive, honest, plaintive look at how we behave and respond and survive in this melting pot of humanity. As the physics professor Turturro teaches "We have only 18 inches of personal space" in our world. Our life depends on how we use those 18 inches, our tiny space that abuts countless other personal spaces - bumping, destroying, assisting, respecting. 13 Conversations About One Thing is a splendid achievement by the Sprecher sisters and we can only hope that there are more films of this degree of excellence on their minds.
Rating:
Summary: Life is a choice.
Review: Great film that makes you think and still entertains you. Life is not irreversible. Life is a choice. A choice you make. You can begin again.
This film should be required for all.
Do not miss it.
Rating:
Summary: 13 Conversations About Unhappiness
Review: One star is barely appropriate for the great acting ability of this cast, but the "one thing" is NOT happiness. It is unhappiness. Tricked into thinking this might be a heart warming tale of characters definition and search of happiness, I was aghast at the violence, misery, vindictiveness and plain hopelessness that encompasses this film. It is nothing short of depressing with very, very little redeeming value. The humanity it so strives for gets parlayed into a motif of "what's the use"? Such a waste of talent and time. There are standard trailers from Columbia/Tristar and the widescreen is a big plus. Turturro's director's commentary makes a good attempt at explaining the setup of the story and the character's motivation, which helps, but I became bored about halfway through.
Rating: 
Summary: Exceptional artistic work but what an awful after-taste!
Review: And so the world if full of mean people, so the worst happens to the best of us, so there may be a second chance, and even the super jerks can break a smile now and then. And so, may be all this can happen to each one of us and we might gain some wisdom from it... And so by the time we get to breathe... we may have grown so messed up that it may not matter any more. This movie may be the biggest single pessimistic brain-abuser (I'll spare your from the F word) in the history of cinematography. As a piece of art it deserves 5 stars but I just can't ignore the bad, bitter after-taste from watching it.
Rating:
Summary: Depressing
Review: This is not a happy film. It is a film about the elusive nature of happiness, a state that only one of the characters in the film (who appears to be certifiably insane) ever achieves. For the rest, it's life in the real world -- violence, betrayal and disappointment. It doesn't help that it was filmed in New York, perhaps the most depressing city on earth. That said, it is exceptionally well crafted and acted. If you do decide to watch it, be sure to view all of it at one sitting. Made up of 13 vignettes, it only makes sense when considered as an integrated whole.
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