Le coeur à vif

There are basically 3 different stories that interconnect, actually two major stories and one minor one but in any case only one of them is actually done decently.

The arc involving Bill the Shy guy isn't bad. He's a bit of a stereotype but is charming and the incidents are amusing, if not altogether original. It could have been developed a bit more but then again, it's all been done better elsewhere.

The other major arc is a mess. The major problem is that the Timothy Hutton character is way too charismatic and astute to alienate everyone as he had done. I couldn't fathom why Sharon Stone would want to leave him or why his son detests him. Another problem is the Stone character - we get very little clue about her motivations or problems. There is a hint of a tragedy that took place - but it is never really developed. By that I don't mean that it needs to be explicitly stated, but how it changed the characters was never brought out. And the conclusion - well let's say that it's not implausible only because none of this subplot makes sense anyway.

The final arc with Hutton's best friend is too short to add much. It seems like filler. Actually, everything but the Bill story seems like filler.

This is yet another of those "indie" films made for Sundance with all the trappings of that genre, the "quirky" (in the 70's it was zany - now it's quirky...) characters and situations and the acoustic Grey's Anatomy soundtrack. Unfortunately, there's little of substance or interest underneath.

The original title of this bleak film - WHEN A MAN FALLS IN THE FOREST - was inexplicably shortened to the nebulous WHEN A MAN FALLS for the release of the DVD: had the original title been retained, the audience may have been given a clue as to the intended message of the story. This is the second film for 26-year old writer/director Ryan Eslinger and it does suggest that he wants to deal with some existential material, but he has a way to grow into how to make it happen.

The lives of three men and a woman are interconnected in the all too common shallow 'relationships' that are a major problem in how our society is working. Bill (Dylan Baker) is a night janitor in a large company, a man who shuts out the boring world with his earphones connected to the great opera classics: he avoids people including those who saunter past him and those whose chaotic lives in the next door apartment distress him. Gary Fields (Timothy Hutton) is a down and out professional man who works in the building that Bill nocturnally keeps tidy, the two 'old high school acquaintances' meeting only because Gary has taken to sleeping in the office. Gary's wife Karen (Sharon Stone, without makeup and looking spent and used) has lost all feeling for living, detests Gary, and finds her only joy is in shoplifting. Gary has shut himself off from old friends for reasons that seem to be related to an accident that involved is best friend Travis (Pruitt Taylor Vince), a man at odds with his own environment. The only apparent connection here is that, once Gary discovers that Bill is a night janitor, Gary and Travis feel guilty that their response to Bill in high school had been one of cruel ridicule. Each of the four main characters wanders aimlessly through a world that has become strange and vindictive and it is only a bizarre incident that throws the quartet into some semblance of meaning. Each person has fallen, but since they are in the midst of a lonely 'forest', has anyone noticed or cared? This could be a study in personal tragedy were it done better, but despite the fine credentials of the actors, the script is so full of holes that character development suffers and what results is not unlike watching an injured bull struggling around a bullfight ring as the crowd attends to the matador et al. Sadly we just don't care about these damaged people, making connection with the film next to impossible. Maybe next film...Grady Harp

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.

A decent film, but be in the mood for some introspection. Sharon Stone is great because, well, she's Sharon Stone. You always get the feeling she's just about ready to snap a full on crazy - but that kinda IS what is interesting about Sharon Stone. Sort of a female Jack Nicholson, but hotter in heels and a skirt.

The movie gives a snapshot of how we can all get lost in drudgery and mundane life. So don't view when you're really depressed. The film does a nice job with symbolism and there's an incident that unites the characters and pulls the story together. Good film to watch on a chilly night with some cocoa and buddy so you can have the discussion about how you feel SO much better about YOUR life and would NEVER slide into one of the character's way of life.

I'd give it a B-