Personal Velocity

Kyra Sedgewick, Parker Posey, Fairuza Balk

written/directed by Rebecca Miller - United Artists 2002

three different stories about three disparate characters, but each are hard-hitting emotionally (except perhaps for the second story, in which there's really no way to make this woman completely sympathetic, as the first and third were)

the third story is especially powerful because of the three separate emotional tragedies that happen to this character in the space of a single day - that was quite well done.

OK - to stop speaking in vagaries - story one (Sedgewick) about a white-trash woman who escapes an abusive husband w' her 3 kids to live in the garage of someone she barely knew in high school - this one is all about sexual power.

story two (Parker Posey) about a woman in New York who gets a big break in her job as an editor and realizes that her perfectly happy and loving marriage is what has stagnated her drive and ambition to be rich and powerful (IMHO it comes across as "I want to be a complete B so I'm going to dump my decent kind and loving husband) - needless to say I didn't really "connect" with this one"

story three (Balk) - another New Yorker (albeit at the low end of the income spectrum) - has found out she's pregnant (with her caring but also dirt-poor) boyfriend, so that night goes out to a club, meets a guy/talks for hours/they're walking down the street/he gets plowed by a car/she flees the scene - gets in her car/picks up a hitchhiker who's freaky-sullen her entire trip to upstate New York where she tries to get some emotional support from her mom (from whom she's estranged)/the hitchhiker is some teenager who's been physically sliced up (as though he's been tortured) and this gives her a new insight into caring about someone other than herself (i.e. causes her to really consider keeping her fetus) even when the teenager steals her car

- to be honest, I hope I didn't spoil the story for you with my short synopsis, because writing it down makes it seem a little more pastel than it really is. In fact, this may indeed be the strongest story of the three - even if the first was the most believable.

So there you have it - if you like good acting and good story, this is a good movie to check out.

VG