Sunday

The film's gritty outer-borough images of Queens, familiar to any born and bred New Yorker, got my attention instantly. But it was the film's two principal characters--both middle-aged, both survivors of difficult lives--that sustained it. He, an out-of-work middle management type, is a victim of corporate downsizing now living in a homeless shelter among a multiethnic, multiracial horde of down-and-outers, where he struggles to maintain bare-minimum standards of privacy and personal hygiene--and where remnants of his middle-class life set him apart from his surroundings. She, a faded beauty and still-struggling actress, maintains an oddly genteel life in a rundown two-family house nearby, surrounded by weedy lots and shuttered factories. As they meet and proceed to remove their masks, a kind of love story--brief, impossible, and ultimately doomed, is ignited. This is a beautifully shot and acted film, and a deeply affecting one.

I went to see this movie because I know the producer Amy Hobby. I was very pleasantly surprised at what a nice film it is- a look at two lonely people who meet for a day and are a little better for knowing one another. The sound was muddled on the print I saw- but the overall effect was a nice film for an afternoon- honest filmmaking with people who look real, not the pretty boys of Hollywood... if you see it at the video store rent it for a pleasant experience.

I went to see this movie because I knew Amy Hobby the producer. I was pleasantly surprised, except for some bad sound at the beginning, it was a movie that addressed the idea of loneliness and desperation in average people. Both the actors did a good job of bringing sensitive interpretation to their roles, but I was a little confused by the ending and I never did figure out the husband's place in the trio.

One of the most unique films I've seen in years. An indie film with a meticulously well thought-out story, full of clever twists and surprises; not a comedy but an offbeat drama with some amusing moments. Excellently conceived and directed, with Lisa Harrow as the standout (great body, too). The only minus is the amateurish overacting provided by Richard Harris's little boy, Jarred. I have no idea how this talentless, nepotist, unsympathetic nerd manages to get his face into so many interesting movies.

Unfortunately, indie films have already had their heyday in the 90s, and are by now (2006) as good as dead. Today, nearly every indie film has to have a PC message, and is made by a talentless moron.

This film was shown on the IFC channel. I had not heard of it before. After seeing it, I believe it deserved a wider distribution and more formal review by the critics.

I found the film to be hypnotic. The two leading actors, David Suchet and Lisa Harrow, played their roles in natural and unabashed manner that in a way kind of made me feel less like a voyeur, but more as an observer. I found myself drawn to protagonists in a very sympathetic way and into their short lived relationship.

Watching this film is time well spent.