People - Histórias de Nova York

Beautifully woven, complex and subtle, this film captures an essence of NYC after 9/11. A great script, some stunning photography, an excellent score that helps tie it all together, and a great ensemble cast make this small film seem quite large. The emotions that bubble under the surface, only sometimes breaking through, give this film its strength and its power. Different stories of different people all struggling with day to day life sharing the common experience of being New Yorkers post 9/11. The references to what happened are almost all unspoken, evoked through the images displayed or the background sounds, yet there is no doubt that what happened is a force in the lives of all of these people. Intelligent film-making at its best.

Seemingly mild-mannered Sandie (Jim Gaffigan) is treated by company therapist Dr. Trabulous (Tony Shalhoub). Allison (Judy Greer) and David Burbage (Tom McCarthy) have volatile son Charlie. Judy Hillerman (Olympia Dukakis) is a jewish wife in a cold marriage. Cake designer Emme Keeler (Maggie Gyllenhaal) has a big upcoming presentation. Danny Keeler (Will Arnett) is her husband and Safarah Polsky (Edie Falco) is her big competitor. Avi and Satish are immigrants from India on a security assignment. These separate stories are happening in and around Manhattan.

This is stacked filled with good actors. The problem is that none of the stories are that compelling. They are barely connected in a peripheral way . They are lackluster separately and aimless. There is limited overarching themes. The indie filming is low res digital. Other than the great cast, there is nothing here. I can't even pick one story that I want to follow.

Not bad but not so great either, "The Great New Wonderful" suffers from IIS: Insufferable Indie Syndrome. In trying to serve up a few slices of life in post 9/11 New York, the director of the truly wonderful comedies "Dude, Where's My Car?" and "Harold and Kumar" tries awful hard to be Subtle, Tasteful, and Artistic. The problem is, the results are way TOO Subtle, Tasteful, and Artistic. So much so that there are practically no emotions, no connections, no dramatic effect. Even a handful of very good performances can't save the underwritten script and lackluster direction.

Memo to the Director: GO BACK TO COMEDY! (It actually takes a lot more skill and creativity to produce a clever comedy than to churn out another clichéd indie drama.)

Decent, if not altogether powerful ensemble dramady is a subtle ode to the struggling inhabitants of NYC one year after 9/11, and is being released onto video five years later for the rest of the country to collectively grieve with. Though the film subtly uses the tragedy as a psychological backdrop to tell of these five eclectic character's personal dilemmas, the writer smartly abstains from any preaching of blatant and exploitive content when exploring this aftermath through his different voices, allowing for each conflict to become it's own theme. While the movie does take some time to build speed, eventually the lighthearted catharsis it was going for does spill forth, no doubt helped in part by the strong supporting cast. This is the perfect film for people who are still convinced they are too traumatized to watch anything clearly depicting September 11th, but by now feel the need to witness some sort of emotional connection, creatively, with that day.

The title is a comment made by Sandie (Jim Gaffigan), a patient of Dr. Trabulous (Tony Shaloub), who is trying to deal with his life's problems. It perfectly describes the feeling I had when I watched this film, which is supposed to be four stories about New Yorkers dealing with the trauma brought on by 9/11.

What trauma? Emme (Maggie Gyllenhaal) is trying to get a cake order, and her main competitor (Edie Falco) is not happy that she is the Queen of Cake at the moment.

David (Thomas McCarthy) and Allison (Judy Greer) are so distraught over their monster of a kid that they haven't had sex in 27 days.

Judy (Olympia Dukakis) has a boring life taking care of a husband that just watches TV.

Avi (Naseeruddin Shah) cheated on his wife for the first time.

Are we supposed to believe that all this came about as a result of 9/11. Give me a break! We are watching normal stories about normal lives that would go on regardless of tragedy or trauma.

The lives we see are really not that interesting.