Everyday People

After seeing Jim McKay's "Girls Town" and "Our Song" (both shot VERY cheaply on video), I was totally unprepared for the beauty of EVERYDAY PEOPLE. It's gorgeously shot and edited and looks like a million bucks. Considering that it's mostly about a depressed Brooklyn neighborhood, this is all the more amazing. Whether this is due to the cinematographer, to McKay's direction, or just--at last--a bigger budget via HBO, I don't know. But congrats to all concerned. The movie itself is as wonderful as anything McKay has yet done. A famous Brooklyn eating hole looks like it's going out of business to make way for gentrification, and we viewers get to meet and spend some time with the owners and waiters, their relatives and friends, and even some of the "gentrifiers." The mix is bracing. Nobody ends up hero or villain, and if the movie never reaches the heights of great tragedy, comedy or romance, it also never overdoes anything. Scenes last only as long as they need to, each performance is real and exact, and by the end I'll bet you'll have chuckled often, (almost) shed a tear or two, and certainly better understood what a changing neighborhood means to a host of different people. As simple as "Everyday People" appears to be, this kind of ensemble of people and social issues is not easy to pull off without undue soapboxing. But McKay, his cast and his crew have done it. (And Billoah Greene, who plays Samel, should be going places, FAST!)

but reality isn't necessarily all that entertaining. The cast of unknowns, most of whom have had bits in episodes in one or more of the Law & Order triumverates, bring to life real everyday people -- just like the title says. The situations and interactions are real. Problems are not solved. People are not nearly-all-saint or nearly-all-sinner. They are just everyday people in a disheartening economy, struggling to preserve at least a shred of human dignity.

Even though it premiered on HBO and now bears the HBO imprimatur, it's obvious that it was filmed on a shoestring budget, but that makes it all the more real. Be warned though, that like reality, some things are just pointless, dull, and boring. That's life too.

This movie has a beginning -- the decision to close the restaurant due to bad economic times -- but no ending. The people involved do a good job of falling into the racism trap, then letting go when seeing its pointlessness as an excuse once again, while still recognizing that it will always be part of their realities, keeping the playing feels tilted against them -- perhaps not insurmountably so -- but tilted against them nonetheless. Mostly, by the film's end, you feel how tired these people feel -- and have no better idea of how their lives will end up than when they started -- just like real life.

It also is a good movie to watch with teenagers, really tough situations, and adult themes, but no nudity, violence, or glibness, hence a great conversation-starter.

I give it 8/10, but don't try to watch it if you're overly tired.

I'm just a white, middle-aged guy from Toronto, Canada, but all I can say is this is one of the most sincere, honest and true portrayals of the human spirit that I have ever seen depicted in film!

The characters are real, conflicted and familiar and are portrayed superbly by the actors.

I only wish that more films and TV offered as much insight into social conflict, change and diversity as this film portrays.

The title of this film delivers on it's promise of showing "Everyday People".

Jim McKay ("Our Song", "Girls Town") directs this provocative yet optimistic slice-of-life film set in Brooklyn, which recently premiered on HBO.

Covering the events of one long day in the lives of several people in and around a popular neighborhood restaurant that is set to shut its doors soon, "Everyday People" is pretty much all talk. But like "Smoke", another character-driven, slice-of-life film set in Brooklyn (and one of my all-time favorite movies), the talk is fascinating, and the characters' stories weave together in a way that is truly satisfying.

Someone once said (I think it may have been Gene Siskel, but I'm really not sure) that the true test of a good movie is whether it feels like the characters were alive before the movie started and go on living after it ends. Well, "Everyday People" passes that test with flying colors. Though there are far too many characters for each of them to be fully developed, this is an extremely well-written and acted film, and each character feels very real.

Also, McKay deserves credit for not tying up the film with a pretty bow. It ends on a note that feels good, but he leaves several characters' destinies up in the air. After all, most problems aren't solved in a day, and it's nice that McKay understands that.

An added bonus: it features lots of new music by one of America's most brilliant and underappreciated singer-songwriters, Marc Anthony Thompson, a.k.a. Chocolate Genius (pick up 1998's "Black Music" if you need proof).

There are not many movies that have been able to hold my attention lately. I find myself hitting the stop button far to often. I expected nothing better from what looked like a slow drama, Everyday People.

But I never once had the urge to shut off my DVD player. It is unfortunate that this movie is almost certain never to find a niche.

That is a shame. The movie is the engrossing story of-shockingly enough-everyday people with normal, everyday lives. If you feel sold out when a nice, simple drama ends in gunfire for some silly reason, if you're sick of CGI movies with no heart, this is you're movie. It doesn't need to force events to carry the plots along; instead, we get several stories that unfold naturally.

A restaurant is closing and it's staff must find new jobs. How they react and how their lives are changed is the story, no more, no less. The entire movie takes place over one work day. The acting is solid, the writing equally good. All around this is simply a well made little movie.

Another delight was that there really aren't fixed endings. Who settles their lives in one night? These people do not. We don't know what is going to happen to them or even if things will be okay in the end; we know only what we are given.

Overall, this is an engrossing, low key drama that you shouldn't pass up.

*** (three stars out of four)