November

Greg Harrison's November is one of those frustratingly opaque, reality bending sketchy thrillers where a metaphysical shudder is sent through someone's fabric of existence, in this case that of photography professor Courtney Cox. Driving home late one night, her husband (James LeGros) runs in to a Kwik-E-Mart to grab her a snack right at the same moment a burglar (Matthew Carey) brandishes a gun, and then open fires. After he's killed, you feel like the film is in for a run of the mill grieving process as she visits a therapist (Nora Dunn). Events take a detour down Twilight Zone alley though when a spooky photograph shows up amongst one of her student's portfolios, a snapshot of that very night at the store, apparently zoomed in on her husband. Who took it? Is the man actually dead? Will the film provide the concrete answers that some viewers so fervently salivate for in these types of films? Not really, as a heads up. As soon as things begin to get weird, they pretty much stay that way for the duration of the exceedingly short runtime (it clocks in under eighty minutes!). Cox's character revisits that fateful night from many different angles and impressions, either reliving it, recreating it or simply stuck in some sort of alternate time loop chain. There's a policeman played by Nick Offerman who offers little in the way of help, and she's left more or less on her own through this fractured looking glass of garbled mystic confusion. The tone and aesthetic of it are quite something though, a jerky, stark Polaroid style mood-board that evokes ones like The Jacket and Memento, with an art house industrial touch to the deliberately closeup, disoriented visuals. It's a bit maddening from the perspective of someone only looking for answers, and if that's why you came, you'll be left wringing your hands and losing sleep. If you enjoy the secrets left unravelled, and are a viewer who revels in unlocked mysteries left that way, recognizing the potent energies distilled from unexplained ambiguity, give it a go.

I saw this film on a whim. I had not great expectations for either the film or Courtney Cox, who I remembered as an airhead on Friends. However, I was pleasantly surprised. I was taken in within the first few minutes and spent my time trying to figure out what actually happened. I had several theories, but it was not until the end that the secret is revealed. My jaw dropped to the floor and I knew that I had seen a beautiful work of art. I had to watch it again to see if I could pick out the clues. There were very few. But it made perfect sense. Cox was wonderful! Her performance in this movie made a fan out of me. I cannot wait for her next dramatic role. The story, the directing, the cinematography as well as the acting are superb. I cannot recommend this movie any more than 'see it' Make up your own mind, but give it a chance. You will be amazed.

I really enjoyed the movie "November". I don't pretend to be an "intellectual snob" like some people who reviewed this movie - I just know what I like and what I don't. And I liked this movie. I thought the acting was terrific, the storyline intriguing and thought-provoking, and the film visually very haunting. I would recommend it to anyone - anyone that is who wants to go to a film and "think" about it afterward! I especially enjoyed the use of light and sound to convey the storyline and to move the plot along. The scene's that were I think the most interesting were the one's that kept repeating with different results - i.e. the trips to the counselor and dinner with Sophie's Mother (the terrific Anne Archer). Also, I thought that Courntney Cox gave a great measured performance. It was refreshing to see her play against type and appear in so bold a film. In conclusion, I would love to see this movie again - I believe it is a film to be watched over and over, and each time you would get so much more out of it. I look forward to owning it eventually on DVD. But I would recommend anyone who has the opportunity to see it on the large screen, since it would obviously be so much more effective that way.

Impeccably designed and crafted psychological study appears at first to be in an artistic disarray, yet the filmmakers' strategy is very clever and they have put together an excellent--if brief--thriller about living in a state of limbo. A young photography teacher experiences a night in November within three different frameworks, each with much the same detail but a different outcome in the scenario. It's impossible to criticize the minutiae since the movie's agenda isn't made clear until the finish, but some of the plot-points can be frustrating (such as the photo of a mysterious hand under a market bin, or a police investigator carping about not getting a clear look at a convenience store robber when the store itself had four security cameras going). Nevertheless, the well-chosen cast, particularly Courteney Cox in the lead, is flawless and the mood music and arty cinematography--while at times overstated--is haunting. *** from ****

I am not a fan of the TV show "Friends", but I have been impressed with some of the work the cast members have done outside of the show (David Schwimmer's performance in BAND OF BROTHERS, for one). Courteney Cox is nothing short of excellent here, and there are good performances from other cast members, especially Anne Archer, who I've liked ever since I saw her with James Coburn in 1972's rodeo picture, THE HONKERS. Nora Dunn also turns in a good performance, and if all the leads were as strong, my overall impression of "NOVEMBER" would be different.

But the casting of James LaGros in a major role here doesn't work at all. I don't know if it was the inexperienced director or a bad fit for the role (certainly LaGros has plenty of experience himself), but he's hard to watch, especially when sharing a scene with Cox, who acts circles around his one dimensional performance. This dynamic was so distracting that it pulled me out of the story for a moment whenever he was on screen.

Fortunately he's not on all the time, for November is almost completely from Cox's character's perspective. It's perhaps a study in perception more than anything else, a modern suspense thriller that really isn't a who-dun-it as much as a painful reconstruction of events. Because the film doesn't cheat and cut to someone else's perspective just to answer the viewers' questions (a courageous and applaudable choice for the filmmakers), there are questions that remain unanswered for a majority of the picture. When the time came to give answers, I didn't always feel there was enough information to do so properly, but that's a minor issue. These weren't the "drive you crazy" plot points, but smaller things I thought should have been clear by the film's end.

Aside from these problems, I never felt the film drag (as is often the case in lower budget pictures), so the few story problems did not occur in the editing room as far as I can tell. The short running time reflects this, and these filmmakers understand that one shouldn't be so inclined to make epic length pictures unless it's absolutely critical to the story (a point the major studios seem to forget quite often). If I have issue at all with the run time here, it's the snail pace at which the end credits roll (I guess they were making sure we could read it all). Regardless, the major questions that create suspense were nicely revealed; the time flew by watching the film unravel, and there was certainly a "payoff" for me by the end.

A better directed and/or cast actor opposite Courteney Cox would've boosted my rating on this film a couple of stars. I suppose that's why the big time casting directors get the big bucks; the leads can make a film. But a miscast actor, as in "NOVEMBER", almost broke this otherwise enjoyable movie. 6 out of 10.