About the Gap Between Commitment and Fullfillment

Rating: 2/10 (19 October 2007)

The resolution of this movie is simply about the fact that feelings may trump commitment. Now that that's over, I can go on to say why I think this move is such a bad movie.
This movie has a theme, but that's all it has. The acting is atrocious. Ethan Hawke isn't capable, and because this movie is meant to be an improvisational tour de force, his character's lines are constantly jarring our belief. His lines and delivery throughout cause us to doubt that he is really a writer (even though we see him signing books), that he is really a parent, even that he is really a married man. I guess if you buy the bit about his being a writer, you'll buy the family stuff. The scene at the end with Julie Delpy mimics the deceased bebop singer/pianist referred to only as "she", is psychologically the coup de gras, since so much of the movie before seemed so disingenuous. Finally nothing is said for the "feelings" he has for his son, "I don't want to ever be without him for even a minute!", nor what it is he is unable to give his wife that she "needs".
Besides the theme, which is a good one, the only other mixed feeling I have is about Julie Delpy who turns in a reasonable performance, and some of the photography.