Une pause, quatre soupirs

Despite the little attention this movie has gotten, and the varied, sporadic comments and reviews, "Bodies, Rest and Motion" is the most wonderful thing I have seen in years. The four actors (Fonda, Stoltz, Cates, and Roth) could not do better to bring to us a very subtle, touching, and elegant portrayal of loves come and gone and lives living on threads. There's no action here, and very little actually happens, but the dialogue and the attention to details are so strong, you find you don't need anything more; you can simply revel in each actors' beauty and condition. You have to watch this movie more than once, and you have to cry at times, it's that good. I'm scratching my head why this movie did not make greater acclaim. Either I'm going mental, or the world is just missing out.

Nick is a TV salesman who is discontented with his life with Beth and plans for them to move towns. Carol is Nick's friend and former lover who lives next door and Sid is a painter who has a crush on Beth. This film follows the movement of these generation X'ers as they affect each other's lives.

Done at the same time as gen X movies were in vogue and on the back of Tarantino fever – Roth and Stoltz both benefiting from his success. This claims to have a story but it hides it beneath layer and layer of pretension, making it hard to get involved in. The story does have some clever parallels between the character's lives and Newton's rule that a body remains stationary until affected by another. However the characters are unrealistic and selfish – making it hard to care about them.

The film is actually really dull – it's only 90 minutes long but it felt like a 3 hour epic. The story is really meaningless despite thinking that shots of cacti and using African music will somehow make this deeply profound!

Roth, Fonda, Stoltz and Cates have al been good at least once. Here they're all hampered by bad characters and pretentious dialogue.

Overall, meaningless, self-absorbed, pretentious and, worst of all, deadly dull. What a major disappointment.

This movie is in a category I like to call time and place. It has a very powerful resonance with someone who is experiencing a similar dilemma. For me I originally watched it when it came out and thought the dialogue was well-paced and witty and the acting from Fonda, Roth, and Cates was superb. I recently watched the film again, because I had somewhat grown into its situation. Needless to say it was nearly poetic in a way. That western landscape and feeling of restlessness... My only major complaint was the scoring was a little tedious at times.

I'd imagine the average person would find this quite dull and pointless. Possibly even pretentious and unrealistic. Others will revel in the intimate, stage-like, indie, slice-of-life, raw, gutty aspects of the film. I found it utterly engaging and nostalgic until the final act.

The illusion starting falling apart for me near the end. I was a teenager at this time, so don't get me wrong - people were different in the 90s. Conversations happened. Randomly. People connected in real life over books, music etc and even had relationships based on those encounters! Shocking, I know! But aspects of this film felt forced and unrealistic.

The world's changed and it's good to remember a time when genuine connections randomly happened, but I don't know if this film earnestly encapsulates that time. I enjoyed it overall and it's almost theruptic to open up the time capsule once in a while. Great cast, unique locations, not the deepest story, but these indie dramas from the 90s are nostalgic for me, so I'll give a moderate thumbs up for the performances, settings and independent look and feel of this film.

Bodies, Rest & Motion is the type of film that you stumble onto on cable one night, you recognize some of your favorite actors in it, so you decide to watch. I didn't get much out of this film. I have always loved Bridget Fonda and Tim Roth is one of my favorite actors -- I feel the film gave them a lot of material to work with. Great acting -- I even found Eric Stoltz to be moving.

The story is not really there -- the film is more about human interaction; goals; and love. Not a picture worth seeking out, but fans of these actors might enjoy it.