kate lent me Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her (az-uk):
Glenn Close,Holly Hunter, Kathy Baker, Calista Flockhart, Cameron Diaz, Amy Brenneman. dir Rodrigo García

--"Thing You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her" is not one of those films where the pieces all fit together (e.g, is Robert married to Rebecca's doctor?) say huh? her friend Debbie (Roma Maffia from Nip/Tuck) was that suggested as a possibility whoa although the ending does try to suggest that each of the five main characters have crossed a major bridge in their lives. Most of the characters appear in more than one segment, symbolism the inherent resonance between segments, and I liked the way one of the characters was both a "looker" and a "lookee" at different times in the film's narrative web. The performances are uniformly superb: Holly Hunter was nominated for an Emmy (because this film was sold to Showtime instead of getting a traditional theatrical run oh). . Hunter does have the best acting moment in the film, a scene in which she walks down the street (you will know it when you see it). Much was made of Cameron Diaz's performance as Carol, the blind sister of Kathy, but I recognized a while ago that Diaz is a "former model" who takes her acting craft and film choices very seriously. I think Calista Flockhart might be the actress who most impresses you. But as much as you will be impressed by the performances of these outstanding actresses, you have to be even most impressed by writer-director Garcia. Garcia is the son of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, the Columbian writer who earned the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982. I am sure that bit of biographical information helps to explain why Garcia crafted such an exquisite little film.

--Holly Hunter floored me, walking alone down a Los Angeles street - so together one moment and falling apart the next. Amy Brenneman as the sister who has given so much for her blind sibling (played amazingly by Cameron Diaz) who finally 'gets it' (the blind sister gets it? after the girl asks if her sister is single bcs dsn't want to leave her alone?) after an awakening discussion with her pupil. Kathy Baker with her teen-aged son - wow.

--1. "This is Dr. Keener": We meet a woman named Dr. Keener (Glenn Close) who is taking care of an elderly woman. A fortune teller (Calista Flockhart) arrives at her house and predicts her future.
2. "Fantasies About Rebecca": Rebecca (Holly Hunter) discovers that she's pregnant; Meanwhile, she has sex with a co-worker (Matt Craven) and chats with a homeless woman.
3. "Someone for Rose": A children's book writer named Rose (Kathy Baker) watches as a dwarf named Albert (Danny Wood) moves in across the street; as her son Jay makes a shocking revelation.
4. "Good Night Lilly, Good Night Christine": The most affecting of the vignettes, is the story returning the fortune teller Christine (Flockhart channelling ~Uma Thurman well at lst I tht of Thurman in Hysterical Blindness, very thin, sad) who watches as her lover Lilly (Valeria Golino) dies.
5. "Love Waits for Kathy": A detective named Kathy (Amy Brenneman) deals with loneliness, while her blind sister Carol (Cameron Diaz) bonds with a man named Walter (Matt Craven).

I liked Flockhart's story best, bcs it's grief. desperate and expressed.
Glenn Close was depressing, actually unpleasant for me, that kind of closed miserable sadness.
I liked Holly Hunter, I think I generally like her.
I liked a lot Rose's teenage son - who says he know she's looking for someone "because everyone is" - why do you say that? -"because Love Rules, baby" - are you looking? - of course - are you finding? - sometimes ...

boxoffice.com®: the business of movies™ [THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER]: Dr. Elaine Keener (Glenn Close), despite her professional success, anxiously waits by the phone for a colleague who will never call. Rebecca (Holly Hunter), a bank manger, thought she was satisfied with her three-year affair with a married man until she discovers she's pregnant and the obvious decision isn't necessarily the right one. Rose (Kathy Baker), a single mother of a teenage son, is intrigued by the dwarf who moves in across the street. Christine (Calista Flockhart), a tarot card reader, takes care of her terminally ill lover Lilly (Valeria Golino). And Kathy (Amy Brenneman), a police detective, helps her blind sister Carol (Cameron Diaz) prepare for her many dates instead of pursuing romance herself.

Salon.com | Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her
By Stephanie Zacharek March 9, 2001 |
Flockhart -- who is clearly talented if pictures like 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' are any indication, but whose mincing character in 'Ally McBeal' is the stuff my own nightmares are made of -- is a nervous bird of an actress, all fine bones and enormous, blinking eyes. She uses those qualities astutely here, suggesting a wealth of iron reserve beneath that frailty. Diaz, whose gifts as a comic actress are only beginning to flourish, plays her character so breezily, and with such wisecracking aplomb, that you begin to think of her as a funny person first and blind person second. (She has no trouble getting dates because, she tells her sister wryly, 'guys like to do the blind girl.') "Things You Can Tell" also makes a fine showcase for Hunter, the miracle actress, a woman who can drive home emotions as nebulous as hurt feelings or buried sorrow just by shifting her gait.