Jeremy Podeswa's new film follows the loosely interlocking stories of 5 individuals who are both guided and led astray by their keen attachment to a certain sense. Ironically she has symbolically lost touch with her daughter Rachel. The film is a mood piece. The fact that no single plot or story drives the movie leaves a great deal of potential for the director to consider a variety of interesting characters through the venue of sensory exploration. Unfortunately, we don't ever get a full picture of a character, we only view them at their most dark and depressing moments.
Smiles are rare and usually angst ridden.
Worse, there are enough sullen and foreboding looks in this movie for at least another 100 episodes of The X-Files . Furthermore, the dialogue is so burdensome that every line tries to be one of those Important Statements about Life. Some of the dialogue is actually quite profound, but the heavy-handedness of the w riting and direction in the rest of the picture obscures these potentially perceptive moments. Podeswa both wrote and directed The Five Senses , and I believe that it is largely in the direction of the film that the failure lies. This became most apparent to me as the sub-plot of Richard's deafness unfolded.