Rating: 
Summary: Not a comedy -- serious, good stuff
Review: When I saw that Alan Arkin is one of the stars of this movie I made an assumption that there would be some comic relief involved -- there is none at all. This is a very serious movie with the main theme being "are you happy" -- very serious. The movie opens with a very happy lawyer having won a case and getting a serious talk from Alan Arkin about luck and happiness. He leaves the bar where's he's in, accidently hits someone with his car, believing he has killed the person he drives off in fear of prosecution, but then punishes himself. Don't worry, I haven't given anything away here -- that's how the movie opens. Thus begins the story about happiness, guilt, betrayal, and finally redemption. All the characters also begin with independent story lines that ultimately tie together in one larger theme and end up with some connection to each other. This was very well, written, very well acted, all around well done. Be prepared though when you see this, it can be a very depressing movie ... but it's worth your time for sure.
Rating:
Summary: Arkin deserves an Oscar
Review: The film is outstanding, as you can see from the other reviews. I would like to add that Alan Arkin's acting is brilliant. He is simply a very under rated, under stated actor, who shines in this movie. He is reason enough to see this film.
Rating: 
Summary: 13 IS A LUCKY NUMBER
Review: This is a touching film finding magic in the bleak urban landscape of New York City and a handful of residents at life altering moments. It's interlocking stories build to a warm blanket of security and good will under the ominous tone of a sky-less New York. It's funny how things turn out. I was certain I was going to dislike this film.
Rating:
Summary: Significance of moving scar
Review: ... A large and exceptionally able cast with a story line that encompassed many lives that were intertwined without being obviously contrived. A thought provoking and very tight movie that no doubt could be watched again to pick up more detail.
Rating:
Summary: 13 Conversations About One Thing...I have a question.
Review: I wonder if anyone can explain the significance of the scar and
band-Aid as they changed from left side of
forehead to right and back again...this inconsistency went on from one
scene to another repeatedly, so it
clearly was not a "film flub".
I found the film to be thoroughly engaging, the acting to be precise,
the experience well worth
my time.
So, does anyone have an insight?
Thanks.
Rating:
Summary: great movie
Review: Really enjoyed this movie. Apparently the writer/director had in the past suffered a severe head injury secondary to a mugging in NYC.. This seems to be the framework for the movie. How does someone deal with a personal catastrophe that fate has handed them? Verywell conceived and developed with good charachter development.Excellent acting and thought-provoking.
Rating:
Summary: A Break from Mindless Summer Entertainment
Review: 13 Conversations About One Thing has many progenitors -- my all-time favorite Nashville, Magnolia, Amelie, Smoke, even -- in its shaking up of chronology -- Memento, and -- in its ensemble acting -- Gosford Park. Superficially it plays the familiar themes of random connections, the smallest casual act leading to consequences, and life's not fair. But it elevates those near banalities through a spare script, superb acting, tightly shot interior scenes, and -- when outside -- uncommon, but unmistakeable New York shots. It and its players have meanness, grace, chance, trust, tragedy, hubris, redemption, possibility and -- at its conclusion -- a lot of hope and just desserts in almost all cases. Alan Arkin as a middle-management sour insurance executive performs perhaps the most surprising of the characters' many turns and Matthew McConaughey has never been more true as an actor than when he turns his assistant district attorney character's view that the guilty must be punished continually on himself. Maybe even better than those two, however, is Clea DuVall as a housecleaner who was so close to becoming an angel on her fifth birthday that she effectively becomes one until a breeze blows a shirt aloft from her arms. And how great is it to see Amy Irving on the screen again? Don't wait for the DVD (although you'll probably want to get it anyway for the collection); when 13 Conversations -- which seems to be in fairly limited release --gets to your town, see it. P.S. especially recommended to REM fans, though you'll need to get deep in the credits to find out why.
Rating:
Summary: Angst and Connection
Review: After directing Clockwatchers, one of the most intelligent and interesting films of the past decade, Jill Sprecher has come out with another gem. 13 Conversations is a fascinating look at the intersecting lives of a group of mostly unhappy New Yorkers. The film has similarities to Short Cuts and Magnolia, suggesting that the lives and destinies of seemingly unconnected people may be linked in some fundamental, perhaps even metaphysical way. It also has the nonlinear structure of films like Pulp Fiction. To its credit, 13 Conversations holds its own with all three of these films and is quite original in its approach. The performances are all very strong, especially Alan Arkin as a cynical manager in an insurance agency and Clea Duvall as a house cleaner with a cheerful outlook until catastrophe strikes. Matthew Mcconaughey and John Turturro are also perfectly cast. The plot (or plots) of 13 Conversations is compelling, but is secondary to the questions it raises about finding meaning and happiness in an often harsh and chaotic world. The tone of the film is often brooding, yet the message is ultimately hopeful. As in Clockwatchers, Jill Sprecher has something very significant to say about life in these times.
Rating:
Summary: The Way you say the things you do
Review: Jill Specher's "13 Conversations about one Thing" concerns the whys and the wherefores, the ins and the outs, the good and the bad of what makes us as human beings happy, what makes us sad and what makes us act in the manner in which we do.
It is a thouroughly European film in that it deals with these subjects in a non-linear way, and on a level of such emotional expliciteness that what emerges are not only the surface reasons for all of this, but also what lurks locked up inside of all the characters in regards to happiness, sadness, love and hate.
The structure of the film is like a series of short stories linked together by a couple of events much akin to David Shickler's "Kissing in Manhatten." All of the characters have something to do with one another and in one way or another their storylines affect each other and the outcome of the film.
"13 Coversations about one thing" is really an extremely humanistic soliloguy about the way we all deal with each other in the year 2002 and how our thoughts, prejudices, actions can affect one another and where our responsibilities begin and end when dealing with each other. The director, Jill Specher seems to be using John Donnes words: "No man is an Island, entire of itself. Every man is a piece of the continent...a part of the main, " as her blueprint as she weaves all the story fragments together. Her film is a thoughtful, reasonable, fragile, emotional testament to the power of humanity and human-ness. What do we as human beings owe to each other? How can we remain individuals and still be part of the society of man? How do we remain individuals and still participate in society?
There are several standout performances: Alan Arkin, so good in TV's "100 Centre Street" and a revelation here in a basically negative character who, through the process of self-examination and recrimination, realizes that we all are in the same boat literally and figuratively and Matthew McConnaughey, finally finding a niche for his stalwart and emotionally positive personality, who turns in the performance of his career as a lawyer striken with grief and guilt.
CLea DuVal is also very effective as a downtrodden, though positive house cleaner who garners enough gumption and positive thinking to recover from a near-death experience.
Jill Specher's "13 Coversations" is a difficult, multi-leveled, emotionally charged film about what it is to be an adult in the year 2002: it challenges your heart as well as your mind. It dares you to dismiss it as it simultaneously tugs and tears at your heart as well as your intellect and your perceptions of right and wrong, good and bad.
Rating: 
Summary: An unusually made film
Review: Jill Sprecher, this film's director, previously made Clockwatchers, a witty comedy about office life among temps. Here the mood is the polar opposite; this is a mostly somber film about the consequences of choices we make in our lives--on ourselves and those we affect--and the consequences of random events upon us all. The acting is superb. Alan Arkin in particular is brilliant, although Matthew McConaghey turns in a powerful performance as well (he's also great in another current film, Frailty). John Turturro is also excellent. As has been increasingly the case since the influential Pulp Fiction appeared on the scene, time manipulation is a primary element in how this film is structured. While this is used well, the dialogue is much too often stodgy or stagy. This tends to weaken the impact of what could have been a masterpiece, and considerably slows down the momentum of the film as it progresses. In addition, alienation, suicide and depression figure largely in the proceedings. With an unrelenting focus on these matters, there needs to be not so much occasional levity to offset this as much as some emphasis on vitality to counterbalance the drag that every character here imposes on himself/herself--or that is imposed upon him/her. The presence of one jovial office worker, in fact, is an obvious contrivance for this exact reason--to provide the "happy face" otherwise invisible. The semi-tinkly music is also a dubious factor here and can occasionally be somewhat annoying. The message seems to be that life is ultimately depressing, makes us unhappy, and that we will inevitably regret the choices we make since they will cause unhappiness. Including music meant to be an ironic counterpoint--with its light, though minor-keyed tones--has an effect opposite to what was intended: it's just too much, similar to the contrivance of the happy worker. A brisker pace, sharper dialogue, and greater emphasis on how to move ourselves towards hope, towards what we can do to rise above the terrible lows life throws us into, would have helped considerably. Does this mean the film should have a "happy" ending? Be like all other Hollywood movies? Not at all. I salute Ms. Sprecher for the innovative direction she took in this film. But when we feel that there is no way out, and that feeling is repeated more than a few times, without any letup, it makes for an unrelentingly heavy-handed piece. Intelligence and emotion should always be fused in any great work of art. The trick is knowing how to fuse them so that we are encouraged in some way by what we experience.
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