Mind the Gap

The movie reminds about everyday life. You meet people who may smile or laugh but deep inside they are not happy. As you watch the movie it feels like you are living it. Each five characters had their own problems yet were laughing and smiling trying not to show what they were hiding deep inside. Each five of them took life on their own and went after their destinies. I adored Malissa's acts. Her mother told her she hated her, but yet Malissa never quit taking care of her sick mother. After her mother's death she became a traveler leaving her home and later on her car and exploring the world. There is a lot to learn from each five characters. "Mind The Gap" is the movie that will never bore you even if you watch it day after day.

This movie, while at first seems like a series of vignettes, ultimately connects to the watcher, and pulls you in, and then weaves a tale, thats heartbreaking, and heartwarming, all at the time. I was very impressed with all the performances. I will admit that I watched it solely because I am a Jill Sobule fan. Her performance was amazing in my opinion, but I was very drawn in and loved every minute of this film.

I think more people need to see it, and hopefully tell all their friends to see it. I can only hope.

Also, Elizabeth Reaser should be on everyones "to watch" list. I recently saw Stay as well, and she is amazing in that film. I cant wait to see what she does, and I hope that someday she will recognized for her talents.

At any rate, this movie is well done. Please see it, enjoy it, and be touched by it.

I watch so many movies, most of them become like wallpaper to my life, barely worthy of comment other than the 90 minute-long void in my life that they fill.

'Mind the Gap', however, was such enthralling viewing, and filled with so many points that made me question my own actions in life, that when the titles came up at the end, I actually felt that I had spent my time wisely, and felt so uplifted I had a tangible 'up-ness' about me! Superb acting, well-shot, and the intermingling stories provide a plot rich in human experience.

The most note-worthy film I have seen in a (sadly) long, long time! :-)

A strikingly poignant examination of the role of forgiveness in our lives. Schaeffer has created a collage of memorable characters and provides the audience with ample reason to care for their fates. The dialog is crisp and meaningful, the characters are unique and memorable, and the film concludes balanced and cohesive.

The film managed to brush the very edge of my tolerance for adversity as each character faced with their personal demons, but never stepped past the threshold into contrivance or absurdity. The usual cliches and "movie" plot mechanisms were ably dodged and the ending was more than I'd expected and all I could have hoped for.

This is the film that Magnolia wishes it could have been.

'Mind the Gap' is an enchanting spiritual quest by eccentric characters who by converging from the sylvan north, south, west and east to the gritty sidewalks of the island of Manhattan, face death, their own or a loved one's, in different ways and find salvation in accepting that no person is an island.

While each is as damaged from relationships as the motley crew in 'Italian for Beginners,' this is far more than a romantic quest as these oddballs, who we on a rotating basis very gradually learn how they got so damaged, cannot have real relationships, including between parents and children, until they solve their spiritual malaise to make a positive choice. Their physical health and sensual perceptions are also linked to their emotional and spiritual well-being.

While the film is very long as it leisurely follows these characters' twisted trajectories, the mostly strong acting (particularly by Alan King in what I presume was his last film role) and the intriguing situations and lively conversations keep us curious, though the precocious kids interact with the adults like Gilmore Girls.

Like 'Magnolia,' we gradually find that some of the characters are linked in disturbing ways, others by coincidence (asymptotically cute) of need, time and place, but unpredictably. As brutally frank about the weaknesses, cruelties and foibles of human nature as the former film, writer/director/producer/co-star Eric Schaeffer is less cynical and more hopeful than Paul Thomas Anderson, without resorting to incredible magic realism to restore faith.

While these characters literally face the notorious undertow of the waters of Spuyten Duyvil (spiting the devil, per Dutch folklore about the treacherous waters off the mainland) --and their uniform hatred of the NY Yankees-- to enter Manhattan, I didn't catch all the theological interpretations about the sins of the fathers to discern any particular philosophical consistency about forgiveness, including the Krishna Das tracks on the soundtrack. I do question the meaningfulness of a child granting forgiveness to an adult, but I think it's about the adults growing-up.

Co-star singer/songwriter Jill Sobule's "Bitter" (available both on her CD 'Happy Town' and the compilation 'I Never Learned to Swim: Jill Sobule 1990-2000') serves as the satisfying culmination; five other of her songs, not specifically written for the film, are also featured as commentary, as she plays an isolated busker with a literal broken heart.

Some recurring images I didn't quite get yet, particularly of a dancer in Times Square, perhaps going around and around at the crossroads of the world.

One of the most hopeful and uplifting movies I've seen in a long time, it will bring a smile to "mind the gap" every time I get on and off the subway -- the gap between reach and grasp, between nirvana and humanity.