Spoilers herein.
We have three scriptwriting devices here: the elevation of a space to a character, the notion of narrative composition by multiple layers and the shuffling of time.
I think it would take competence in all three and some integration among the three to make this work. The first is done poorly, and that's the problem. When you collapse the time, you have to expand the notion of space. I'm sure the young scriptwriter was aware of this rule, but the intent in practice turned into simply lush art design.
That fumble kills this, plus some bad acting in one of the stories, the musician and maid.
The integration between the other two is good enough so far as the flow of edits, and a few actual events: a shot that spans time, a common actress and common character in the framing stories. The music editor did a good job in understanding how the story about music should infuse the score for the whole project.
But it misses a greater opportunity. These stories should play off each other in some way. Its not just an anthology, it is a layering, a layering in this case that sets the table but forgets the meal. It does at least reference the meal (in the book of poems). Rack this one up as inspired writing and ordinarily competent but unknowing directing.
"Things You Can Tell By..." was a layering that worked for me. It doesn't shuffle time, but plays on repeated little motions and phrases of the actors. They combine to give one multidimensional "story." "13 Conversations" does the same thing well, but in a different way.
Projects like this, in my experience are inherently feminine, they require the actresses to bind. I have seen Lindy Booth in "Wrong Turn" where she had a couple moments where she played outside the vision of the director, and worked the red hair she wore. That moment piqued my interest. Here, she tries two varieties of mystery and utterly fails. She's off my list.
Mia Kirshner is different. Like Alicia Witt, she was the goddesslike, hypnotizing child player at the core of an important project. And that project, Mia's, is incidentally one of the best films ever made: it is about life as inept performance slipping into sexual ritual. What a setup for her role here!
She knows it and exploits it. That's her job and it almost makes the whole trip worthwhile.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.
We have three scriptwriting devices here: the elevation of a space to a character, the notion of narrative composition by multiple layers and the shuffling of time.
I think it would take competence in all three and some integration among the three to make this work. The first is done poorly, and that's the problem. When you collapse the time, you have to expand the notion of space. I'm sure the young scriptwriter was aware of this rule, but the intent in practice turned into simply lush art design.
That fumble kills this, plus some bad acting in one of the stories, the musician and maid.
The integration between the other two is good enough so far as the flow of edits, and a few actual events: a shot that spans time, a common actress and common character in the framing stories. The music editor did a good job in understanding how the story about music should infuse the score for the whole project.
But it misses a greater opportunity. These stories should play off each other in some way. Its not just an anthology, it is a layering, a layering in this case that sets the table but forgets the meal. It does at least reference the meal (in the book of poems). Rack this one up as inspired writing and ordinarily competent but unknowing directing.
"Things You Can Tell By..." was a layering that worked for me. It doesn't shuffle time, but plays on repeated little motions and phrases of the actors. They combine to give one multidimensional "story." "13 Conversations" does the same thing well, but in a different way.
Projects like this, in my experience are inherently feminine, they require the actresses to bind. I have seen Lindy Booth in "Wrong Turn" where she had a couple moments where she played outside the vision of the director, and worked the red hair she wore. That moment piqued my interest. Here, she tries two varieties of mystery and utterly fails. She's off my list.
Mia Kirshner is different. Like Alicia Witt, she was the goddesslike, hypnotizing child player at the core of an important project. And that project, Mia's, is incidentally one of the best films ever made: it is about life as inept performance slipping into sexual ritual. What a setup for her role here!
She knows it and exploits it. That's her job and it almost makes the whole trip worthwhile.
Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.