Retratos de soledad

WHEN A MAN FALLS IN THE FOREST is a movie that in Italy and few other European countries was released in theaters but in the US was released straight to video. And although this statistic might mean it's a terrible movie, it wasn't. Now please don't assume I loved it, but I mildly liked it.

The film is about the interwined lives of a group of people that are not really happy despite the apparences. Karen Fields (Sharon Stone) is a woman frustrated of her life and her separated at home husband Gary (Timothy Hutton) wants desperately to find the joy of live while being addicted to alcohol. Bill (Dylan Baker) is a janitor that is afraid of meeting new people and is annoyed by a family with kids that moved near his apartment and Travis (Pruitt Taylor Vince) is a man that lives marked by a trauma.

I liked the performances. Stone and Hutton were fine at playing an estranged wife and husband that after a while are reunited with their daughter that came for a visit, and Baker was good at the janitor. My issue was that some of the actions of Travis didn't make a lot of sense and I really hoped that the lives of the characters would have hugely improved but the ending left it open. As it is, it's a decent drama about the lives of some people with their problems but nothing more.

I enjoyed this movie a lot. The opening scenes, focusing on shots of electrical leads unravelling, an alienated janitor, moving his hoover back & forth, show that this is the kinda of film which you may have to suspend judgement a little over what is happening and where it might be heading and perhaps look a little deeper at the symbolism. Inter-twining lives are not of course new but those of the three male leads, Bill, Gary & Travis & that of Karen are not so much connected by events but more by how they are dealing, or not dealing with, their various personal dilemmas & tragedies or just their own approaches to their lives. Beautifully shot, well acted & directed, this film has more than an air of surrealism & may be open to more interpretation of the dreams & realities & possibilities than perhaps you might think at first. Recommended.

This movie is a complete waste of time. I have watched it and could not tell you what it was about. The cover of the movie is pure deception, it leads you to believe that it is a sit on the edge of your seat movie NOT. If you want to feel really depressed go ahead and watch it but leave the pills in the bathroom. 90 minutes of my life felt like a lifetime of head in bucket full of snakes.Sorry but just did not get it at all.Wanted a movie with some feel to it , all I felt was pain. I kept telling myself it will get better, but alas it never did. The only thing that saved the movie for me was that it finally ended. I was holding on looking for that spark that would tell You did not waste your money but that never happened.

i picked it out because of sharon stone, i knew it had to be at least up to par. i didn't have any idea that by the next 90 minutes later, that i would want to tear my own eyes out. it was so depressing that i was depressed before it was half way through. not but one time did it even make sense or connect any of the people in it. when it was on the shelf it sold me on a psychological thriller. wow thats so lieing. in my opinion it was one of the worst movies i have ever seen. and i thought i had seen a lot of substandard movies. this made no sense, everyone had a scene one after another of sleeping, on couch, on roofs. and they all were severely unhappy. not a single smile or hardly any words spoken from sharon stone in the 4 scenes from her. i can not believe she did this movie at all. she must have been dirt broke or something really awful. i don't recommend anyone see this or spend money on this junk.

I don't think young people will appreciate this movie

though us older folk will understand the doldrums middle age can fall into this movie does that state justice with a good example of that proverb "be careful of what you wish for"

Sharon is not the total beauty you are used to but not hard on the eyes either ... Tim does a bit of a supposed spontaneous phone call that is a bit on the too good to be spontaneous side but doesn't detract from the essence of the theme and growth of the storyline.

to anyone who understands this state of depression and disillusion some aspects are a bit obvious but the story still does its job as a tear jerker of sorts.