On the surface this is a low-budget made-for-TV movie but I found myself sinking into it more and more and more until my entire body was tensing and my hands clenching. When a story comes along which compels you to THINK after it is finished, it is a gem. This was by no means an air-tight written story but the CHARACTERS were real and their lives were real. Based on a '24' real-time type script, the movie follows one day in the lives of two completely unrelated women. Their only connection is a horrific accident involving the two of them resulting from road rage at the end of it. The movie begins at the end, in effect, and gives us the details of that day gradually. The camera occasionally shows us the time during the flashbacks, on an office wall or a car dashboard. It is filmed in a real-life, over-the-shoulder, CNN type mode which makes you feel like you are walking into the conference room with Andrea Roth's Diana Burke or sitting at a table in a restaurant with Kathleen Roberston's Beth Welland. And all the while, the anger and despair of these women slowly builds to that exploding point.
The movie is very much an indictment of our dog-eat-dog society as well. Even though these women live in the bustle of the city they are ALONE and it is a shock to you to realize that the human being next to you on the highway or passing you in the hallway could be living a life like these two women. The movie ends with one of them surviving and the other passing away and you, having entered into their lives, are left to process what decisions and actions and circumstances brought them to that fateful moment. That's all. And you will, if you see the movie.
There are two very powerful scenes in this movie which I want to mention. Kathleen Robertson's performance here I will not soon forget. There is a scene in the restaurant just before the cake arrives during her son's birthday party - and while the son has been invited to the kitchen by the chef - where Beth has been informed by her ex that his lawyer feels they have a strong case for full custody of their son. She has just lost her job and has nothing while he and his new girlfriend have just bought a nice house in the burbs. He mentions it casually like it was of little consequence but when the son returns the camera is only on Kathleen's face. For a full minute all of the noise in the place filters out and you are left with seeing the poison come into her eyes in complete silence. I have not seen or felt a more authentic, human scene in a film. The other was at the end - and this is the real spoiler - as the doctors inform those at the hospital of Beth's death. Once again the camera is only on one person - her son - and when the moment comes his entire body wilts and his eyes become vacant. You realize that he is the only one who will miss her. I was left gasping as I saw it.
For anyone who is looking for a real human story here is one for you.
The movie is very much an indictment of our dog-eat-dog society as well. Even though these women live in the bustle of the city they are ALONE and it is a shock to you to realize that the human being next to you on the highway or passing you in the hallway could be living a life like these two women. The movie ends with one of them surviving and the other passing away and you, having entered into their lives, are left to process what decisions and actions and circumstances brought them to that fateful moment. That's all. And you will, if you see the movie.
There are two very powerful scenes in this movie which I want to mention. Kathleen Robertson's performance here I will not soon forget. There is a scene in the restaurant just before the cake arrives during her son's birthday party - and while the son has been invited to the kitchen by the chef - where Beth has been informed by her ex that his lawyer feels they have a strong case for full custody of their son. She has just lost her job and has nothing while he and his new girlfriend have just bought a nice house in the burbs. He mentions it casually like it was of little consequence but when the son returns the camera is only on Kathleen's face. For a full minute all of the noise in the place filters out and you are left with seeing the poison come into her eyes in complete silence. I have not seen or felt a more authentic, human scene in a film. The other was at the end - and this is the real spoiler - as the doctors inform those at the hospital of Beth's death. Once again the camera is only on one person - her son - and when the moment comes his entire body wilts and his eyes become vacant. You realize that he is the only one who will miss her. I was left gasping as I saw it.
For anyone who is looking for a real human story here is one for you.