Fast Food, Fast Women

This film ran through the art house circuit so quickly most people missed it, and that's too bad. Now it's finally beginning to show up on cable, and I hope it gets a larger audience. Amos Kollek's other films are also hard to come by in the U.S. -- I know I'D like to see more of them, after having seen this one, but this seems to have the lightest touch, from what I can tell.

Among the many things it has going for it, is the incomparable Anna Thomson (Levine), a character actor I've followed since her days in the rep company of the original Tracy Ullmann Show on Fox television, through her unforgettable role in Clint Eastwood's UNFORGIVEN, to this interesting role of Bela.

Magical Realism is a kind of sub-genre I always enjoy, and when it plays against the gritty, wonderful city of New York (my home town), I sit up and take notice. This is the kind of dark underbelly of one of my favorite (also underappreciated) TV shows, Jay Tarses' "The Days and Nights of Molly Dodd." If you knew and liked that, and can do with something darker and more sexually explicit, you'll probably like this.

Bela triumphs, and so do her strange friends, in this pretty unique film, which is slow paced, as slice-of-life character studies are, so be prepared for that. If you tend to criticize films for being "too slow" or not having enough plot, you might not like this, but if you are happy examining characters and living with great dialogue and situations, hang in there. If you like "Smoke" or "Blue in the Face," you'll probably love this.

A bit slow at times, but solid performances and quirky script makes it work. Lead actress is a bit too old for the role of a 34 year old woman, but carries great screen presence and manages to add depth to an eccentric character. Lasser, as always, is fantastic. The editing is a bit messy, but I found this little movie to be quite entertaining.

It's a shame people compare this film to indie dogs like "walking and talking". This film is a work of art. Strangely compelling, clunky, human, passionate, deranged and ultimately uplifting -- this is one of the most mature and honest portrayals of women and loneliness I have seen in a long time.

For me it's up there with Hal Hartley and Woody Allen's freshest and most honest work. It's real credit that it was selected in competition for Cannes - - they understand the way elliptical themes and complex characters are often the most challenging and satisfying for a thinking audience.

For people that don't get it : Stick to TV cinema. You won't understand art if it hits you in the face.

Today I'm happy that I'm from Israel. This is directly connected to the fact that the director of this film is from Israel either.It really makes me proud to know that the brain who create this wonderful film,grew up here. It is a comedy about life, and all the regular components of our routine: love, sex, work, children, money, getting older... All characters are looking for love and warmness, in their boring life, and they all get connected in some way... We can find ourself in each characters, even thought it present strangeness, and something bizar.This is why I enjoyed watching the film- you can't tell what happened with the character a minute after you've seen her\him on the screen. You won't get any big ideas from the film, and you won't find a message that will make you think allot after the film ends, but- it has a positive atmosphere, and you'll get out from the cinema with a big smile, and with an optimist opinion about life.

I saw this movie last night on TV, and found it refreshing, personally inspiring, despite the negative comments others have written about it.

The characters redeemed themselves by sticking with what they thought they believed in, and/or went after what they thought was important to them, despite how impossible those goals seemed.

Much as Bella has chosen her waitress job, various characters meet impediments which cause them to choose one way or the other. At the end, you realize how true to themselves they really were.

The quirky personalities made the characters more real to me. I was able to envelop myself totally in this movie, forget all about myself, my troubles, my own world, despite some loose ends and unnatural jumps in the stories. Life's like that. These people seemed real to me, even when I knew they weren't.

The movie made me happy in general, happy for the characters' successes, and aware that it was a fairy tale colored a bit by some of life's inevitable disappointments. The characters were not foolish, just human. Because most of their lives were not in the movie, it seemed somewhat like a loosely structured play.

Rough, unpolished, quirky, non-Hollywood romances, people getting by, people looking for the "right" person to love them.....7.5 points from me