THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING

'''Thirteen Conversations About One Thing''' is a 2001 drama film directed by Jill Sprecher and starring Matthew McConaughey, Alan Arkin, Clea DuVall and John Turturro.

Contents

Plot

Background

Reception

Awards

References

External links

Plot

''Thirteen Conversations About One Thing'' is set in New York City and consists of four briefly intersecting story threads. An ambitious young lawyer, Troy (Matthew McConaughey) is stricken with guilt after committing a hit and run. The woman he injures, Beatrice (Clea DuVall), is an idealistic housekeeper forced to reassess her attitudes after the accident. Insurance claims agent Gene (Alan Arkin) is rankled by an unrelentingly cheerful co-worker. College professor Walker (John Turturro) and his wife Patricia (Amy Irving) struggle with his infidelity and midlife crisis. Structurally, the film is divided into 13 sections, each prefaced by an aphorism.

Background

Jill Sprecher wrote the script for ''Thirteen Conversations About One Thing'' in collaboration with her sister Karen, as with her previous film and directorial debut, ''Clockwatchers'' (1997). The script was written over an eight week period and finished before ''Clockwatchers'' was released, but due to a lack of funding the film took over three years to make.^[1] The plot was inspired in part by autobiographical events in Jill Sprecher's life, including two muggings and a subway assault.^[2] The housekeeper Beatrice is based on Sprecher's personality when she first moved to Manhattan after graduating. Several planned scenes were cut due to budgetary constraints.^[3]

Reception

''Thirteen Conversations About One Thing'' was generally well-received by critics,^[4] who praised the quality of the cast and the treatment of the film's themes. Roger Ebert described the movie as "brilliant ... It is philosophy, illustrated through everyday events."^[5] ''Houston Chronicle'' reviewer Eric Harrison called the film an "intricately devised and thoughtful comedy",^[6] while ''San Francisco Chronicle'' reviewer Mick LaSalle said it "makes a case for cinema as a vehicle for conveying moods and ideas and, hardest of all, the internal movements of a soul."^[7]
Negative reviewers criticized perceived problems of tone and a lack of depth to the film's philosophical underpinnings. Writing in ''The Guardian'', Peter Bradshaw claimed the movie "suffers from curate's-egg unevenness, though its good points certainly stick in the mind."^[8] According to ''Entertainment Weekly'' critic Ty Burr, the film has "luminous performances, but a genteel tone of despair drags the whole thing down",^[9] while the ''Village Voice's Jessica Winter said "the film succeeds only when it peers up from the intro-philosophy book for the occasional glimpse of everyday beauty".^[10]

Awards

;San Diego Film Critics Society Awards 2002

★ Best Director: Jill Sprecher

★ Best Editing: Stephen Mirrione

★ Best screenplay, Original: Jill Sprecher, Karen Sprecher
;Florida Film Critics Circle Awards 2002

★ Best Ensemble Cast

★ Golden Orange Award: Amy Hobby
;Boston Society of Film Critics Awards 2002

★ Best Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin

References

1. One conversation with Jill Sprecher
2. Happy Trails to You Piet Levy
3. And One More Thing
4.
5. 13 Conversations About One Thing
6. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing Eric Harrison
7. The pursuit of happiness Mick LaSalle
8. 13 Conversations About One Thing Peter Bradshaw
9. Thirteen Conversations About One Thing Ty Burr
10. Justify Your Existence Jessica Winter

External links

★ ''Thirteen Conversations About One Thing'' official website at Sony Pictures Classics

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