Reviews

I had a chance to screen this film and then sit for a Q and A with the writer/director, producer, and actress Kathy Baker. Basically, the film is nine 10-12 minute short stories about 9 different women in 9 (somewhat) different life situations. The basic premise behind the idea was that we come right into what would be the plot of a feature film and then leave just as suddenly, whisked onto another tale. Of the 9, 3 were good. For you math lovers, that's not a good ratio. The most revealing critique on this movie came unwittingly from the writer/director himself, Roderigo Garcia, when asked by a moderator about possible endings to one of the tales, Garcia responded "I like to think she wouldn't have done that, but I don't know". YOU wrote the story, YOU are supposed to know, it's YOUR story. Garcia also revealed that he wanted no connections at all between the tales, but decided to 'thinly connect' them when pressured by his producers to make a film that left the audience satisfied. With 1/3 of this movie watchable, I'd say your best bet is to pay for another film, but the pick-ens have been slim this year. Read a book instead.

This may be one of john travolta's finest acting roles. The critic reviews were lukewarm, and it seems the movie wasn't released in many theaters for people to see, which is a shame. This is a gem of a film. It takes place in new orleans and follows the lives of three unlikely roommates. Two drunken men living in a dilapidated house of a dead woman, and the woman's estranged only daughter who comes to claim her inheritance-a third of the house. With no place to go, the three stay together under the same roof and a friendship somehow grows, like grass through a sidewalk crack. Well acted, and well directed, there are times the pace of the film seems to slacken but it doesn't take away from the story being told. All in all, one of my favorite films no one saw this year.