I actually saw NINE LIVES, Rodrigo Garcia's very similar follow-up to this film, a few months ago and so when I saw TTHINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER on Reel 13 at the end of October, I was having déjà vu all over again. Both films are an anthology of short films that give us glimpses into the lives of women living and working in Los Angeles. The two films boast many of the same female actors (Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman) and each film features some terrific performances (and one or two bad ones). Neither film is very upbeat or uplifting as they tend to focus on very sad moments in these women's lives. They are both mostly good and very accomplished and yet, I felt more connected with NINE LIVES. It has occurred to me that the reason for that is possibly that I saw it first even though THINGS YOU CAN TELL was chronologically first. Seeing THINGS YOU CAN TELL felt like rehashing old territory, which I think adversely impacted my viewing experience. Also, the major difference between the two films is that each of the stories in NINE LIVES are filmed in a single shot, with a slow-moving, unobtrusive camera. No cuts in the entire film. This gives NINE LIVES a certain vitality. Conversely, THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER featured beautiful, rich close-ups, but at the same time, felt a little more contrived, crafted. It seemed slightly less real.
As with anything so fragmented, some segments are going to be better than others. Here, the stories featuring Glenn Close ("This is Dr. Keener") and Cameron Diaz ("Love Waits for Kathy") are both very strong and interesting. The tarot card scene featuring Close and Calista Flockhart is a triumph for both actors (and was wisely featured by Reel 13 on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fU2RF6Kgowk). Ally McBeal has tainted the minds of viewers into the thinking that Flockhart's not the real deal, but here she proves different. The same goes for Cameron Diaz, whose good looks take attention away from her considerable talent. She has a monologue at the end of the film that is wonderfully executed. Even the consummate theater actor would have to be impressed, particularly by how she makes it work for the camera. Lots of consecutive words tend to fall flat on screen, but Diaz makes the most of her close up and lets her face tell the rest of the story that her words leave out. I think it's something young actors should looking at when studying screen acting.
Another downfall of the anthology structure is the probability of losing momentum and THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER suffers from that, particularly in its latter stages. This is particularly notable during the less successful segments in the film, including Kathy Baker's ("Someone for Rose") and "Goodnight Lilly, Goodnight Christine", which features Calista Flockhart again as a lesbian who has to watch her lover (Valeria Golino) die. I really wanted to like that one – both actors are very strong in it, but, as you can probably imagine, it is simply way too slow and depressing to be effective.
On the whole, there is a lot of craft to the film. Garcia recruited one Emanuel Lubezki (one of the top three working cinematographers, if not the best) to shoot the film and the results are outstanding, particularly the aforementioned close-ups. The duo chose, on several occasions, to give the actors a great deal of headroom on some shots. It's a little distracting and I'm although I'm sure it was purposeful, I'm not clear as to their reasoning. Perhaps they were trying to suggest the influence of the surroundings on their characters or something like that… it's hard to say for sure.
On the whole, Garcia does a good job of planting small mysteries within his little micro-dramas, which manages to keep us mostly interested and engaged. Though, as I suggested, I prefer his follow-up NINE LIVES, I have a great deal of respect for what Garcia is doing and how he directs actors. That is just as true here as it was in that film and I feel like the pros of THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER outweigh the cons. Now, the challenge for Rodrigo Garcia is to take his gifts and segue out of this niche that he's created for himself. That's what it will take for him to go to the next level as a modern filmmaker.
(For more information on this or any other Reel 13 film, check out their website at www.reel13.org)