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John Ventimiglia,
John Ventimiglia,
Kyra Sedgwick,
more...
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Rebecca Miller,
Rebecca Miller
see all cast/crew...
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: MGM
: Drama, Independent
: 85 min.
: English
: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
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Three women whose lives have followed very different paths ponder their pasts and their futures in this omnibus film from second-time director Rebecca Miller, adapted from her acclaimed short story collection of the same name. Delia (Kyra Sedgwick) grew up in a fractured household; her mother abandoned the family when Delia was a child, and her father (Brian Tarantina) was a drug-addled loser who could barely be prodded off the couch. When she entered adolescence, Delia realized that she could use her body to get men to do as she pleased. While this gained her a feeling of power and self-sufficiency, it also earned her a reputation as the "class slut," and the end product was her marriage to Kurt (David Warshofsky). Greta (Parker Posey) is the daughter of a successful lawyer (Ron Leibman) who left her mother when she was young and offered Greta criticism rather than affection. Plagued with self-doubt, Greta is squandering her literary talents editing cookbooks and is married to Lee (Tim Guinee. When Thavi (Joel de la Fuente), a respected and successful young novelist, asks Greta to edit his next novel, it forces her to reassess herself on a number of levels. Finally, Paula (Fairuza Balk), yet another product of a fractured family, ran away from her mother and was homeless until she met Vincent (Seth Gilliam), who took her in and became her boyfriend. A year later, Paula is uncertain in her feelings about Vincent, unsettled to learn that she's pregnant, and startled after witnessing a murder while out clubbing with a friend; she hits the road again, and soon picks up a fellow alienated teen, Kevin (Lou Taylor Pucci), who bears the scars of a recent -- and very brutal -- beating. Personal Velocity: Three Portraits was honored with the Grand Jury Prize at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide
You might also enjoy:
Angela
Director Miller's debut feature was a moving story of two girls and their dysfunctional family
13 Conversations About One Thing
Thoughtful, carefully made multi-story, indie drama
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| Great performances!
by maritoni
June 23, 2003 - 2:39 PM PDT
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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First off, you have to appreciate some wonderful, layered performances by each of the three actresses, Kyra Sedgewick, Parker Posey and Fairuza Balk. And then you have to appreciate a story that works so well with the DV medium.
Each story tells the tale of a complicated woman that goes through some sort of transformation. I appreciated the "reality" of the characters and the lack of concern for tying things up neatly. This is the perfect kind of story to use DV, allowing the performances to breathe and giving that sense of intimate voyeurism into someone's dysfunctional life which may or may not parallel our own.
I question the role of the male narrator, but in the end it didn't bother me too much. Perhaps it was to be able to have a distinct anonymous voice that would not be interpreted as one of the women characters.
If you appreciate a moderately paced, languid story that doesn't give easy answers check this out. |
| Worth a Rental....
by BrodiesGirl
June 11, 2003 - 12:14 AM PDT
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6 out of 6 members found this review helpful
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Based off of a collection of short stories by writer/director Rebecca Miller, three twenty minute stories are featured about three very different women who are all in the midst of a personal crisis.
There is the battered wife (Kyra Sedgwick), the book editor (Parker Posey) who questions her fidelity to her husband, and the pregnant runaway teen (Fairuza Balk) who picks up a hitchhiking kid.
What sounds like a terrible direct-to-Lifetime movie that should star Joanna Kearns or Judith Light is saved by the actresses and by Miller. I also found it interesting that it is narrated by a man, which some people found upsetting that a "feminist" film would have a male narrator. Miller makes many interesting choices in her direction, I enjoyed her style of telling the story and the narration added some depth to the characters. At the same time, I felt that there didn't seem to be much...purpose to the stories. I enjoyed the movie, but came away with a feeling like I should have learned some grand lesson to apply toward my life and didn't at all. I wish that I could spend more time with the third story, which was, interestingly enough, the only story that was made specifically for the film, not from book to film like the others.
Bottom line: interesting directing choices and pretty good acting (especially on Fairuza Balk's part) make it worth a rental but nothing overly fabulous. |
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GreenCine Member Rating
(Average 6.14)
172 Votes
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