Playing by Heart (1998)

User Rating:

7.0/10   

Director:

Willard Carroll

Writer (WGA):

Willard Carroll (written by)

Release Date:

23 April 1999 (Italy)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

Tagline:

If romance is a mystery, there's only one way to figure it out.

Plot:

Eleven articulate people work through affairs of the heart in L.A.

Plot Keywords:

Bar | Sex | Cooking | AIDS | Homosexual

Awards:

1 win & 1 nomination

Cast

Angelina Jolie	...	Joan
Sean Connery	...	Paul
Gena Rowlands	...	Hannah
Gillian Anderson	...	Meredith
Madeleine Stowe	...	Gracie
Ryan Phillippe	...	Keenan
Dennis Quaid	...	Hugh
Christian Mills	...	Phillip
Kellie Waymire	...	Jane
April Grace	...	Valery
Anthony Edwards	...	Roger
Ellen Burstyn	...	Mildred
Jay Mohr	...	Mark
Tim Halligan	...	Cook Show Director
Michael Emerson	...	Bosco

Also Known As:

Dancing About Architecture (USA) (working title)
If They Only Knew (USA) (working title)

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

121 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | German

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Iceland:L | UK:15 | Argentina:13 | Australia:M | Austria:6 | Chile:14 | Finland:S | France:U | Germany:6 (bw) | Norway:A | Peru:14 | Portugal:M/12 | Sweden:Btl | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | USA:R | Singapore:PG | Poland:15

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Hyperion Pictures

Trivia:

The film contains spoilers for Midnight Lace (1960), Citizen Kane (1941) and Psycho (1960).

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: Throughout the entire movie, whenever there is a scene (and there are many) involving martinis, between shots the olives and level of vodka in the glass change. This happens many time when a character either eats an olive or is about to eat one, it will re-appear in the glass seconds later. Also - many times where the character is starting to say something, and the view is changed to be from their point of view and their lips are no longer moving.

Quotes:

Keenan: This... isn't anything. It's not anything now and it won't be anything ever.
Joan: WOW. Message received, end of date.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Showbiz Today: (1999-01-22)" (1999)

Soundtrack:

I'll Plant My Own Tree

A very enjoyable surprise

When I checked this one out on IMDb before watching it I was firstly surprised by the cast: how do you get all those well-known actors in a film which seemed very unprepossessing and might be considered a `sleeper', made by a practically unknown director? Apart from a couple of films in the late 80s and a number of films for video with perfectly unappetising titles, Willard Carroll did not seem to be a promise living up to the great cast he assembled for this film.

How wrong can you be! An excellent drama with real life issues is presented in a more live theatre style than the heart-tugging overplayed resources of more banal cinema productions. I mean, what bad luck that such a pretentious over-hyped `American Beauty' (qv) for instance, receives an avalanche of undeserved accolades, while this little gem just passes by, relatively unknown. In `Playing by Heart' you have a natural well played-out series of events without any of the overladen bombastics so frequent in American cinema. Excellent interpretations here – among the best I have seen of Sean Connery, and Gena Rowlands is his perfect counterpart. Full marks for interpretation to Gillian Anderson, Jay Mohr, Dennis Quaid, Ellyn Burstyn just wonderful, as is Madeleine Stowe, and Ryan Phillipe; and it is the first film in which Angelina Jolie is not appearing only to show off her indisputable charms, as she is wont, but to play her first really convincing rôle without flashing unnecessarily her anatomy all over the place.

So, evidently, full marks to Willard for piecing together all these elements to bring out what is indeed a very enjoyable surprise. Most certainly a film to see again. My only quibble is that perhaps the last ten minutes or so did not quite live up to expectations: however I would not say that this factor spoils any of the impressions made during the rest of the film.

My vote is a little higher than the IMDb User Rating.