Clever Play on Introspection

Rating: Null/10 (4 April 2000)

I'm relatively easy to please. If just one thing in a film is an ambitious attempt and it works rather well, it is enough if most of the rest is merely competent. But a competent simple film isn't enough for me. Good acting alone isn't enough.
This film takes one chance and does it in my favorite area -- Cinema is essentially a superficial medium; it cannot capture an internal dialogue as a link with the viewer/reader like a novel can -- or at least not without taking chances.
Cusack deserves a lot of credit for what he's done here in playing with the link between movie and viewer.
(Caution! Some may see these as spoilers...)
--He has a dialog directly with the viewer, that dialog is often in the very context of the action, and the matter of the dialog is substantially different (more honest) than what he has with any character.
--One episode has three different versions. This is a part of the dialog with the viewer. It is a point of art that the effect is only used once.
--The dialog is essentially about the relationship between events and the soundtack of life as if it were a movie, so when a musician (Bruce Springsteen) comes from the soundtrack to the action, it blurs the distinction. Very clever.
--As the film is about music as analog ("using someone else's poetry" to annotate or even activate your life) it's rather elegant how Cusack has created a soundtrack for us in precisely the way he creates DJ tapes, like the one for his wife at the end.
This film takes intelligent chances with that tough boundary and makes them work. Worth seeing.