THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING (2001, Jill Sprecher)Rating: NNN
Rating: NNN
Here’s the pocket version of Magnolia, with a disparate group of New Yorkers impinging momentarily on each other’s lives, often without realizing the possible outcomes of the encounters. With an outstanding cast — Alan Arkin, Matthew McConaughey, Amy Irving, John Turturro, Clea DuVall, Barbara Sukowa — and a scrambled timeline, Thirteen Conversations is more intellectual puzzle than pulse-pounding summer flick. Its sudden appearance this past summer was one of the silly season’s oddities. In mood and style, it’s an autumnal film, particularly in Arkin’s performance as an insurance adjuster who fires someone who’s unflappably cheerful just to see if he can make him less cheerful, then walks around trying to unload the karmic debt. (September 23-25, Bloor)