Approaching Union Square

I was pleased to catch this film on Sundance Channel. This film features such rich writing, and as a movie is artful and entertaining. The directing supports the unconventional script very well. I wonder where I can get it on DVD? Or read the original play? I liked the entire movie, but several scenes stood out to me. The first scene with the woman who feels tragic events before they happen was moving and engaging. I liked the sex addict scene as well, for its bluntness and innate humor. Like with all the writing in the film, the detail really allows you to imagine the scene of the stories being told. I almost wish we were able to see those stories play out, as told by the characters in their individual vignettes. The hotel room scene was smart and full of life and tension, aided by the interaction of the main character with his wife while the main guy tells some strangely wonderful tale about a trip to New Orleans. Then, there's the guy who confesses his love for a female friend, and we're left awkwardly with the sense that something might take hold there, but just as well maybe not. The ending is dramatic and leaves you wondering. Well done.

I got caught up in this movie because of the first "monologue" with the psychiatrist. I knew it would have some sort of payoff later on, so I kept watching.

But I was expecting a gritty New York movie. That was shattered as soon as they showed all the people on the bus -- they're all white, pretty, preppy, and young 30s. And as the vignettes continued one after the other, we learned that they're all heterosexual.

I think there was a problem in taking what had originally been stage monologues and putting them into scenes with other characters: Most of the speakers came across as either so self-obsessed they were oblivious to letting anyone else speak (as in the woman speaking to her two friends about meeting the man), or surrounded by people who were tired of hearing them whine (as the woman who was talking to her roommate about her cell phone bill -- and where did they get all that floorspace in Manhattan?). Ultimately, I just wanted to shake these characters by the shoulders and yell, "Get over yourself!"