Day 4 -- Conversations with Other Women

Released: August 11th, 2006

Starring: Helen Bonham Carter, Aaron Eckhart

Writer/Director: Gabrielle Zevin/Hans Canosa

Description: When a man and woman flirt with each other at a wedding reception, the sexual tension seems spontaneous. As they break from the party to a hotel room, the flirtation turns into a night filled with passion and remorse.

[Review may contain spoilers. Please watch movie before reading, unless you don't care. Most of these films have already been released for a while, so they should be readily available.]

***

In movies, when something is different then any other movie you've seen, you tend to pay closer attention. Whether it be the storytelling in "Memento", or the video game like edits in "Scott Pilgrim vs. the World", a change in film-making has the chance to either enhance the movie or completely drag it down by repetition (I'm looking at you, Matrix Trilogy).

In "Conversations with other Women," director Hans Canosa uses a split screen the entire movie. One frame is reserved for Arron Eckart's character, and the other is occupied by Helen Bonham Carter's. What this allows the editors to do is splice in flashback scenes while still keeping the principal actors in focus, and the side of split that the flashback appears on depends on who's thinking about it. Being able to show emotion from a character in two different time period was pretty brilliant.

During the first act, this choice allows for the storytelling to feel more natural, and helps to reveal the twist of the movie in a very organic way. The promotion and marketing of this film did a great job hiding the fact that this was about a divorced couple reuniting for one night. This revelation comes to light as you begin to notice that the same young actors are being used in both flashbacks.

Add in that Gabrielle Zevin's writing is clever enough tha she doesn't have to outright say what the relationship is between the leads. She allows the audience to do some of the work by connecting the dots through the events that they mention, which doesn't happen in storytelling much anymore. Even the obvious reveal that they know each other still leaves enough mystery that you are excitied when you begin to unravel the story.

But the writing would be nothing without the extraordinary work of Carter and Eckhart, who occupy every single frame -- mostly two frames -- of the movie. Both do a tremendous job of keeping the audience engaged. Even inducing a fear that they might miss a great moment if they focus on one half of the screen.

While not one of her top performances, Carter -- was the reason I chose this movie -- shows her versatility once again, as the married, step-mother of three, who has decided to have one last fling with her ex-husband. Every choice made by her character is very believable, you feel her remorse when she goes in the bathroom to call her husband after her sex-filled night, but you also feel enough chemistry between her an Eckhart that it wouldn't be all that terrible if she stayed with him.

Eckhart's turn from confident flirt to desperate, jilted lover is pretty remarkable. It's not over acted, except in one scene where he starts pumping his arms up and down, and he convinces us that these completely different guys can inhabit one person. Sure, he still over-smiles and exaggerates his laugh at times, but at least with this character it's not as noticeable because most guys would act the same way in this situation. While it's not Oscar-worthy, his performance is the pay off for all the work he's put into his craft; he's not thinking, he's inhabiting.

A few very interesting film-making choices occur in this movie, but none of them really take away from the story. It's a well told story that shows exposition without ramming it down the audiences' throat. The split-screen flashback are something I would mind seeing in future films.

Rating: 7.5/10 -- Strong performances from Carter and Eckhart keep this move from being sleepy. Young directors and writers in the romance/drama genre should take note that this film never has a melodramatic scene, yet it is sad and dramatic. I know I have.