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Six Degrees of Separation

Six Degrees of Separation

List Price: $14.95
Your Price: $13.46
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: The first of Will's greatest
Review: This movie really sets you thinking for a while after watching it. A great movie that landed Will into showbusiness. He did not wish to take part in the homosexual part, but that was for the protection of his young son. He did not mean for it to be "unprofessional". He did not want his son to be known as "the kid whose father kisses other men". The movie is definately one that should be watched----of course it should be watched by one with an open mind.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful movie!
Review: This movie was awesome. Did anyone else love Anthony Rapp in this? Man, he was excellent--only wish I saw him in Rent when it was on Broadway. Oh well...get this movie! It's great!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Wonderful!
Review: This movie,was fun,entertaining,and REAL NEW YORK

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Uneven at times, but well worth seeing
Review: This sometimes uneven adaptation to the play, concerning a group of social climbing Manhattanites who were conned by a young man claiming to be the son of Sidney Poiter, shows a masterful way with dialogue that is worth hearing over and over.

Very well written, the movie is undercut a bit by some scenes that come across a bit too stagy and an inconsistent performance by Will Smith who is ripped to shreds by Stockard Channing giving the film performance of her career. (It should also be noted that Simth refused to take part in a scene that required him to kiss another male. Maybe Mr. Smith should have been replaced with a somewhat less homophobic actor willing to do what the script called for).

Whatever shortcomings the film has, none are enough to warrant missing it. It maybe a bit too talky at times, but what wonderful talk it is!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: ONE OF THE BEST FOR WILL SMITH
Review: THIS WAS ONE OF THE MOST REALISTIC ROLES THAT WILL SMITH EVER PLAYED BEFORE HIS ROLE IN ENEMY OF THE STATE. PEOPLE ARE USED TO SEEING WILL IN THOSE ROLES WHERE HE DOES NOT HAVE MUCH CARE OF BEING SERIOUS. HIM TEAMING UP WITH ACTORS LIKE DONALD SUTHERLAND HAS DONE ALOT FOR HIS CAREER. SIX DEGREE OF SEPERATION SHOWS THAT HE CAN PLAY ANY ROLE HE PUT HIS MIND TO. WAY TO GO WILL..

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Hidden Treasure, Indeed.
Review: Unlike most mainstream films with exaggerated facial expressions and 7th grade dialogue, this movie is for the discriminating viewer. The acting, dialogue, and story are nothing short of superb, and the movie itself is very subtle. It is one of those rare movies I watch once or twice a year.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Chaos, control...
Review: We are all connected in this world. It is strange to think that not only in big cities where people are anonymous or across rural hinterlands but all across the globe, thanks to internet and ease of travel, we are all far more intimately connected than ever before. This can be a good thing and a bad thing. The perils and glories of this interconnectedness form the plots of the film Six Degrees of Separation.

The Plots
The primary plot turns around a couple who are upper-middle-class New Yorkers, John Flanders 'Flan' and Ouisa Kittridge. They are upper-middle-class, but really live a very fragile existence. As one character puts it, 'they live hand-to-mouth, just on a higher plateau'. We experience some of the opulence and the tenuousness of their Upper East Side existence. Flan is an art dealer dealing in the gray market of shuffling unknown pieces between anonymous buyers and sellers, a human ebay portal for expensive works of art.

One evening as Flan and Ouisa were planning to seduce a wealthy foreign friend into an investment scheme, the doorbell rings and an injured young man of colour wanders in. In the melee of getting him cleaned and bandaged, the conversation takes wild turns toward art, philosophy, literature, and culture. The couple and their guest are mesmerised by the talented young Harvard-educated son of Sydney Poitier. The evening is a success, the art deal is closed successfully, and all go their separate ways to sleep for the night, but not before extracting promised from the young Paul Poitier to be extras in the filming of 'Cats'.

The next morning, however, the couple are surprised by another houseguest - a male prostitute picked up by the dapper young man from the night before. They are shocked, astonished, and throw the pair out of the house.

Not long after this, Flan and Ouisa encounter more and more people who have 'entertained' the son of Poitier, who, as it turns out later, in fact has no sons, only daughters. As the growing band of the duped search out the mystery, they finally discover that Paul is in fact the gay pick-up of one of their children's misfit friends; he has been coached in the ways of society and most of the personalities so that he can slide in without giving a hint of his true origins, and his charm propels him the rest of the way, until finally his deceptions cost a young man his life. Paul, or whatever his name is, is arrested and sucked into the system, and the Kittridges cannot find him, because they cannot tell the police his name. He disappears as completely as before he came into their lives, destined to be for most, but not all, a story to dine out upon.

Meanwhile, a line from early in the film, 'Chaos, control; chaos, control: you like? you like?' uttered by Ouisa as they foursome look at a Kandinsky painting becomes a motif for the entire film, as it alternates between chaos and control, much like life. Also much like life, one never knows where the chaos stops and the control begins, and vice versa.

The Casting
Again, the casting was inspired. Will Smith, prior to this film best known for being the Fresh Prince of Bel Air or a rap artist, carries the male-hustler-turned-society-gallant role off to near perfection. Donald Sutherland is a perfect Flan, with a nervousness and not-so-subtle ambition well done in his usual manner. Ian McKellan gives a great cameo as the South African businessman who is in America briefly, who opines that he is merely serving his role in history to educate and raise up the black Africans, 'and we'll know we've done our jobs when they kill us.' A nice supporting cast carry the various encounters with other families caught in the web of deception, including the required brat-pack reference of Anthony Michael Hall, proclaimed the Henry Higgins of their day. But the true gem of this film is Stockard Channing, who played the role on stage. Her facial expressions, subtle and emotional reactions to the world around her as she reacts to the growing sense of reality that overtakes Ouisa as she realises the limitations of her own world, are almost flawlessly executed on screen. Her energy and physical presence is truly perfect for this role.

Overall Impressions
I always feel a bit of a chill when watching this film. Can my life be construed as equally phony? Not phony like Paul's, mind you, but phony like the Kittridges and all the other upper-middle-class pretenders? Aren't we all living hand-to-mouth in some respects? Don't we all long for escape. And indeed, the idea of six degrees of separation is very true to me. I have no degrees of separation between heads of state Europe and African tribesmen, corporate lawyers in America and Marine Corps riflemen in Saudi Arabia, missionaries and clerics in South America and near the North Pole, Japanese educators and Pakistani students. Of course the whole world is connected to me. But what good comes of this as I sink into bankruptcy? Have I been living the Kittridge's life, and am now to experience Paul's pre-Poitier existence?

This is a film to make you think. You will be astonished at the sheer elegance and style, done with economy and opulence simultaneously. The same is true for the full menu of food for thought. Bring your appetite.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: will smith's best role ever far&away
Review: will smith did a wonderful job in this film.unlike the out of space smart mouth roles he usually gets.he truly acts in this film.all films after this one are fancy one-liners with very little substance.this film shows what he could do if he allows himself to be an actor first&foremost.a must see film.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: flirtingly farcical and often hilarious
Review: Will Smith plays a psychologically brilliant but shameless, misguided hustler / con-man that takes in a social-climbing, star-sucking, superficial, ostentatious and over-mortgaged couple (cast and played perfectly by Donald Sutherland and Stockard Channing) with an intricately constructed version of his own reality.

Smith's monologue in an opening scene of the movie clearly smacks of Andre Gregory in My Dinner With Andre - except on speed - and flawlessly performed.

There are so many delicious subtleties and incongruities. For example, in the same scene, Ian McKellen plays the man with the cash - and yellow teeth. Imagine the riche of New York City having an audience with someone with yellow (not piano-key) teeth in this image conscious society - but, on the other hand, he can provide the $2 million that they need to avoid bankruptcy.

As the film unfolded, I felt a growing sense of foreboding that the ending would betray the foundation laid by the rest of the film. On the contrary, it's very well done, without silliness or letdown.

This is a beautifully made film.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A wonderful adaptation.
Review: Will Smith proves that he does have depth beyond the two-dimensional characaters he's given us in the blockbusters "Independence Day" and "Bad Boys." This is a real movie. It has a plot and characters that are down to earth. John Guare did an excellent job at re-creating his award winning and brilliant play. The acting is terrific. Will Smith, if I may furhter comment, gives his finest performance. He can act when given a chance, as we see in this movie. Stockard Channing is an excellent leading lady.


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