Cinema 24/7
The great Jeff Bridges plays Max Klein, a middle-aged, happily married (to Isabella Rossellini) San Francisco architect who survives an airplane crash. Screenwriter Rafael Yglesias, who adapted his novel, doesn't shy away from dealing with the most existential issues: fear of death–and life. It's the kind of theme that very few American movies would even try to portray.
Poignant, touching, and in moments even philosophical, “Thirteen Conversations About One Thing,” Jill Sprecher’s sophomore effort, very much fulfills the promise she has shown in her 1997 Sundance-premiered debut, “Clockwatchers.” Interweaving five contemporary stories into a single narrative, the film deals with the profound, often unintentional impact that seemingly disparate people have on one another, while searching for a more meaningful and happier existence.
Lee pays too much attention to the social context, the urban environment, instead of focusing on the moral dilemmas and compromised identity of his interesting central character, Strike, resulting in a diffuse, intermittently involving crime saga that lacks the momentum of Richard Price's novel.
