The most exuberant humanist film of the year

Author: nakedhandfilms from Melbourne
25 January 2005

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.

Author: Kenn-15 from Marin County, CA
1 September 2002

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.

Author: schuertje (schuertje@yahoo.com) from Antwerp
22 December 2000

This is just a sweet film. I think that if you don't like it because it's too mellow, you should ask yourself if you haven't grown to be too cynical.All the people that normally only see trash as "Sleepless in Seattle" should see it. The film is romantic but not sticky, intelligent but not arrogant...The performance of Anna Thomson (or Anna Levine as she is called here) is simply heartwarming. all the movie through, you never realise that this lovely Bella-character is an actress.

Author: gratwicker from United States
1 January 2007

Lasser's love scene is one of the best in the movies, and may be her best work over all. What an actress. She and Robert Modica are electric lovers as two older people, senior citizens, who fall in love, who care for each other in ways that only lovers can care. And maybe only older lovers.

Loneliness and getting older are dealt with sensitively, and every movie goer who looks for something more than action will find Kolek's (the son of the famous Israeli Mayor)film moving and worth the time. Why are't there more roles for older actresses? Because there are't many actresses with Louise Lasser's sensitive emotion. She digs deep and the audience falls with her. Robert Modica is also attuned to the feelings of older men left alone.

Author: (Wr1ter) from Pittsburgh, Pa.
28 May 2003

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
 

Author: toclement
16 November 2000

This is the third film I've seen pairing director Amos Kollek and actor Anna Thomson. The other two, "Sue" and "Fiona", were both great and about the most depressing things you could watch ("Sue", in fact, is a masterpiece). So I was curious to see where Kollek was going to go with this, a more light-hearted, and even comic romance. Of course, we aren't talking "Sleepless in Seattle" here, thank goodness. I have to say that while I was watching the movie, there were times whenI shook my head and said to myself, "this is bad" or "that's ridiculous". In fact, this film had many more flaws and awkward scenes than Kollek's earlier work. But at the same time, after it was all over and I was walking home, I really felt like I had seen something special.

I can't explain why exactly, but one thing that was surprising is that Anna Thomson's character, while the driving force in the previous films, was comparatively dull and uninspiring and underdeveloped here. Her love interest, even moreso. But this film was buoyed by a secondary romance plot involving two 60-somethings fumbling their ways into some sort of relationship. Louise Lasser Louise Lasser, hehe, making a comeback of sorts in recent years ("Happiness"), was just wonderful. Her partner (was it Robert Modicka?) was also off-the-map charming. If I have one complaint, there wasn't enough time in the film devoted to this burgeoning romance.

There is one scene involving the two that is about as tender as anything i've ever seen on the big screen. It's nice to see good love stories about middle-aged people and above and they show that often the actors, perhaps due to more experience acting, pull it off much better than most of the young and the beautiful.In sum, another winner for Kollek and Thomson, and I just wonder when, if ever, Thomson will become a star in the states (she is quite popular in France). I kind of hope she doesn't, but that's out of my own selfishness to see her in more of these kinds of films as opposed to the inevitable lure to make the big money in the bad movies. I also hope Louise Lasser continues to get more parts because she rocks. (8 out of 10)

Author: matty03 from San Francisco, California USA
1 July 2001

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.