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| Released: |
2003 |
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| Genre: |
DRAMA
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| Origin: |
US |
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| Colour: |
C |
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| Length: |
104 |
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PRO Reviews
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| | A haunting and hypnotic film. Funny and touching. Alan Arkin is flat out perfection! | | | (Peter Travers, Rolling Stone) | | A surprising, bold, satisfying drama with a mildly depressing wave running through it. | | | | (Norm Schrager, filmcritic.com) | | The movie is brilliant, really. It is philosophy, illustrated through everyday events. Most movies operate as if their events are necessary - that B must follow A. 13 Conversations betrays B, A and all the other letters as random possibilities. The film was directed by Jill Sprecher and written with her sister, Karen. It's their second, after Clockwatchers (1997), the lacerating, funny story about temporary workers in an office and their strategies to prove they exist in a world that is utterly indifferent to them. After these two movies, there aren't many filmmakers whose next film I anticipate more eagerly. They're onto something. They're using films to demonstrate something to us. Movies tell narratives, and the purpose of narrative is to arrange events in an order that seems to make sense and end correctly. The Sprechers are telling us if we believe in these narratives, we're only fooling ourselves. And yet, even so, there is a way to find happiness. That is to be curious about all of the interlocking events that add up to our lives. To notice connections. To be amused or perhaps frightened by the ways things work out. If the universe is indifferent, what a consolation that we are not. | | | | (Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times) | | Much rides on the strength of the actors' performances, and all of them rise to the occasion. Arkin has one of the most difficult roles — Gene can be a nasty piece of work. But he's not an evil man, just one so beaten down by life, that it is an almost automatic response for him to strike back. Also impressive is McConaughey as the priggish lawyer who finds himself shocked out of his complacency. Coming off an equally arresting performance in the recent thriller Frailty, the actor's recent career mirrors one of Sprecher's title-card concepts, ‘Wisdom comes suddenly.’ After years of being wasted as a lightweight leading man in Hollywood productions, he has at last come into his own in these smaller, independent productions. What shines through most of all in 13 Conversations is Sprecher's empathy. No matter how badly some of her characters behave, she never loses sight of their humanity. This is a movie full of grace and, ultimately, hope. In this tumultuous world we live in, those are two qualities we could all use more of. Take it where you can find it — here. | | | | (Pam Grady, Reel.com) | | A rare treat. An intelligently written, beautifully acted study of human relationships. I loved it. | | | | (Mariella Frostrup) | |
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