10 Historias Cortas De Amor

Contrary to another reviewer, I think that this is WELL-written, especially the more fictional it is, because greater imagination would be required; and well acted, because there were no other characters with whom to share the focus of these dozen-minutes-plus, well-done monologues. But I'm just not entertained by such solemn, pious rememberances. Everybody has a story to tell and some are more interesting than others. Everybody has problems and some are more intense than others. These are just ten, not-very-atypical stories and problems, exemplifying how anybody's life (or part of it) is fodder for film. Then again, I think poorly of TV's reality shows, too. So, if that's your bag, you may like this. It's the kind of stuff that would make for good 'phone and/or internet gossip; but absolutely without other-than-verbal action. And, although each of the speakers is female, I'm gonna leave gender outta this.

Saw this again after some years and still love it. Based on my limited experience with women (as a man), the monologues, however fictional, have a clear ring of authenticity. A good view of sex and contemporary women and, more generally, the human condition as it relates to the interaction of sexes.

I gave this 5 stars for the five monologues that I did enjoy the most. There are two or three really good performances in this, particularly Lisa Gay Hamilton, Kathy Baker, and Rhada Mitchell in a too-short piece that leads off. The rest are either adequate (Kimberley Williams, Alicia Witt and Rebecca Tilney), or less-than-adequate, and a few just plain bad like Deborah Unger (tremulous and melodramatic). A real clunker for me was the morbid, over-the-top, deadly dull story from Elizabeth Pena's monologue which is also way too long, on top of which she doesn't do it well at all.

Hamilton's monologue is probably the best-written of the ten, the finest balanced including deep humiliation with a willingness to confide this without resorting to bathos. Most I found merely self-conscious and stagy with a tinny theatricality that made the person speaking sound so forced and unconnected to reality that I lost contact. This happened especially in Pena's long, drab monologue about a distinctly unhappy marriage. Why Garcia felt the need to stretch this one out like he did I have no idea, but I finally fast-forwarded (turns out I was two seconds from the end of it anyway) and got to Baker's which restored some freshness and balance and gave a better ending to the proceedings (it's wonderful to see an actor with the skill and confidence of Baker simply step into the role and wear it instantly with a minimum of fuss and affectation (certainly one of Ms. Unger's problems)). I don't know if Garcia has a problem with marriage, relationships, or women, but he has an axe to grind somewhere. He has done other ensemble pieces with some of the same women. It seems to be his specialty. While I am a man, I am one who enjoys a good chick flick (Muriel's Wedding, for instance), and I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy Ten Tiny Love Stories. I did, but it was definitely uneven and weighted to the negative side in overall quality.

I think the women were given a bit too much freedom in their interpretations so that some of the less-skilled among them, like Unger, struggled to find the pitch. She just keeps coming apart at the seams during hers leaving herself nowhere to go to modulate her performance. Depending upon the length of the piece, Unger seemed to run out of space and yet sounded so constantly on the brink of disaster emotionally, that it began to sound like a pitiful whine long before it was over. And finally, I felt that some of these monologues were not true in the sense that they had a phony feel to them. They sounded like they were supposed to be candid but they came off stilted. For the three of four good pieces, it's certainly worth the effort.

The idea of watching ten different monologues of women reminiscing about men may seem like a slow death to some viewers, but I found it intriguing to watch these actresses mine the most out of their characters with no safety net provided. As a heterosexual guy, I would recommend this film to other men as learning aid on how to listen to women in the very least, even if some scenes stretch credibility. I was particularly impressed with Kimberly Williams who I had not given much credit to as an actress before seeing this. She paints a vivid picture of the story she tells not only with her voice but with entire body language. I also continue to be impressed with Alicia Witt who continues to show more daring in her craft than most young actors.

In 10 stories written by the male director of the film, ten different women each tell the viewer about a former relationship. One of the women tells about her first sexual encounter, another tells about a blind date who was incredibly selfish and unfeeling, and still another about a man she met in Greece. Did any of these women really benefit from these encounters and can they offer the audience real advice about love? This movie is just bizarre. Each of the stories has some intriguing elements but none truly ring true, except, perhaps, for the last story. How many women, after all, fall for a puppeteer or get set up on a date with a man from Argentina? All of the actresses in the movie, however, do their best with the material provided. The best accolade one can give to this film is that its format is interesting and that's not showering it with praise. If you have a penchant for unusual and unknown films, you might take a chance with this movie. Otherwise, even those who love tales of romance will be sorely disappointed.