Rating: 
Summary: ...intelligent and excellent cinematic experience.
Review: Personal Velocity is the story of three different women who collide with a life crisis at different times in their lives. Delia (Kyra Sedgwick) has frequently been abused by the man she loves, a love that has tied her down and made her incapable of escaping, but now she realizes that it is time for a change. Greta (Parker Posey) is mourning the death of her mother as she has settled down due to her parents divorce that is the origin for her hate for infidelity. On the exterior she displays a person who is content with what life has to offer her; however, when a big time author asks her to be his editor, she has a chance to get back to where she once was, on the top of the world. The question is whether she can take steps to remove the ties that hold her down. Paula (Fairuza Balk) has recently witnessed a traumatic death and found out that she is pregnant with a child. Confused, she begins to drive home to see her mother as she is desperate for some guidance or a sign. On the way she sees a hitch hiker, a teenager, that she interprets as a sign so she picks him up. The three women are reaching their life decisions at different velocities in their lives. Their personal velocities are clearly represented as one has children, one does not even think of having any, and the third has one on the way. This makes the story unique in regards to women and their choices, which often are influenced by external factors. In the end, Miller provides an intelligent and excellent cinematic experience.
Rating:
Summary: Three solid tales of women in transit
Review: Personal Velocity, written and directed by Rebecca Miller (and based on her book) tells three stories of women at crossroads in their lives. A film that is divided into separate stories must overcome certain challenges. Short stories, if they are good, can still leave the reader a little unsatisfied. This may be even more true of short films, as even a two hour movie tends to have less depth than a book. It is also common for stories to be of unequal quality. Personal Velocity, however, succeeds in creating three engaging half hours with some powerful performances. I found all three equally entertaining. The first character we meet is Delia (Kyra Sedgwick), a woman fleeing from an abusive husband with her three young children. While this is a familiar, movie-of-the-week situation, Sedgwick is completely believable as the hurt, angry and uncertain Delia as she attempts to make a new start. Parker Posey, a distinguished veteran of many independent films is the star of the second tale. She is Greta, an editor who unexpectedly finds success working with a famous novelist (who makes a pass at her). Greta is married to a man who is nice, intelligent but lacking in ambition and she finds herself wondering if he will fit in with her new future. There is a great contrast between the first two episodes. The first is set in the rural working class of upstate New York, the second among Manhattan's literary chic. The third tale changes pace once again. Paula (Fairuza Balk) is a woman who has just been traumatized by a tragic accident. Driving aimlessly, she picks up a young hitchhiker who turns out to be another victim of a violent event. Paula drives with the boy to her mother's house, which does not turn out to be much of a refuge. Both the first and last segment deal with rather depressing circumstances, but both leave us with the sense that the women have left the worst behind them and are ready to begin a new and better life; the same is true of the second story, though its overall tone is more upbeat. Personal Velocity is about just that; characters who overcome the unpredictable challenges of their surroundings by the force of their own wills. The film was shot digitally, which works well with its focused, microcosmic perspective.
Rating: 
Summary: Out,Out Damned Spot!
Review: Rebecca Miller's "Personal Velocity" is dull, drab and pretty much lifeless. It tells the story of three women who have little velocity, personal or otherwise. All three (Parker Posey, Kyra Sedgwick and Fairuzza Balk) are all without recourse, stuck in situations mostly of their own making and unwilling or unable to snap out of it and improve their lot.
Parker Posey as Greta a Cook Book editor, falls into a primo gig editing an up-an-coming fiction author and proceeds to mess it up making silly, unethical and un-professional choices. And Sedgwick as Delia, usually one to elicit sympathy, comes off as a pathetic slattern, undeserving of anything much more than pity. Balk as Paula rounds out this ungodly trio as a young woman bent on destruction who mostly succeeds.
I know that all of this is meant to be "real" and serve as a comment on Contemporary Woman but give me a break. We've all got it bad at some point in our lives but we also have it good a lot of the times. "Personal Velocity" ejects women back to the 1950's and beyond; a world in which women indeed had few choices but marriage and children and as such it not only demonizes Men, it degrades Women: those it is trying to glorify.
Rating:
Summary: Perceptive and ripe with ideas
Review: Rebecca Miller's Personal Velocity is comprised of three short films: Delia, Greta, and Paula. The characters span location, socio-economic background, and age but are psychologically threaded by the common experience of a crisis pertinent to each's feminine identity. The movie's interest in women may garner the misperception of it as a feminist polemic, but Miller's vision is more humanitarian than political. It's one of those movies that, even when unsuccessful, seems genuinely curious about human beings.In exploring battered wife, Delia (Kyra Sedgewick) Miller uses flashbacks to show her deep-seated confusion with sex and power as a promiscuous teenager. Greta reiterrates such themes, but as opposed to Delia's battered wife syndrome, these now impenetrable psychological depths actually produce societally acceptable behavior. The more Greta (the deft Parker Posey) succumbs to her innate moral inscrutability, the greater success she earns in her profession as a book editor. The final short, Paula is much less clear in its themes, and you can see Miller exploring truly dangerous territory, feeling around for a lightswitch in the dark. It follows a young quasi-homeless goth woman (Fairuza Balk) whose quest for love and motherhood become manifested in unconditional love and care for a terribly abused hitchhiking boy. Though this short seems spiritually disconnected from the first two, I like its dark, emblematic emotions (ripe with abortion metaphors and images of child torture) and Balk's performance is appropriately painful. Miller's larger point, I think, is to show a battle between these women's present goals and their histories which, whether or not they like it, dictate their decisions. I applaud Miller for exploring such quandaries and being able to convey them in artful, engrossing entertainment.
Rating: 
Summary: super women
Review: This is an extraordinarily intimate and moving film about three women each at a crucial axis in their lives. It's beautifly shot with a great style that completely puts you in the heads of these totally real and original characters. This is a film ultimately about courage. This film is so much better then The Hours, which shares many of same themes and a similar structure to this film but Person Velocity isn't maudlin and manipulative like The Hours. Parker Posse is absolutely great as Greta, absolutely one of the best performances of the last year. She deserves way more recognition for this performance then she received.
Rating:
Summary: A Movie That Provokes Thought
Review: This movie is the story of three woman, told in separate segments. Each of the characters has to some extent engaged in self-delusion as to who they really are as persons and each one finds herself in the midst of a major life crisis. As each character deals with their situation, they begin to find out who they really are as persons and to find a possible path to self liberation, happiness and fulfillment in their lives.
Delia(Kyra Sedgwick), is an abused wife and mother, who finds personal liberation by finding the courage to finally leave her abusive husband, and then rediscovers her personal dignity and power through her sexuality.
Greta(Parker Posey), is a wife and daughter, who has lost touch with herself, first by being caught in the middle in a struggle between her powerful, ambitious father and her weaker, more fragile mother for her love and affection, then later in an act of rebellion against her father, by ending up in a loving but passionless marriage in which she has suppressed all her own personal ambitions. An opportunity for success rekindles in her all her own passions and ambition, as she struggles to finally break free from the influence of her parents, to come to terms with her husband and marriage and to be who she really is as a person.
Paula(Fairuza Balk) is a young woman, who finds herself pregnant and who after a terrible accident, in a state of shock starts out on a journey to try and escape and make sense of what is happening to her. An encounter with an abused runaway, helps her refocus on her own plight and discover her own ability to care about others besides her self.
All the acting in the film is excellent, but Parker Posey as Greta really stands out. This is the first film that makes use of Parker's ability as an actress to convey emotion and internal conflict, without dialog, simply by the expression on her beautiful face, and it is absolutely stunning to watch. She turns Greta, who could have been very unsympathetic, into a character that one can care about.
The film looks and sounds beautiful on DVD. The DVD extras include a nice commentary by Rebecca Miller, and a wonderful conversation with Parker, Fairuza, Kyra and Rebecca about the characters and the making of the movie.
This beautifully written, beautifully acted movie is very intelligent and very complex. One that makes the viewer think deeply. Which in an age of almost total shallowness in the majority of films (all flash, no thought!), a movie that stimulates thought is a true breath of fresh air.
There are no tight, neatly wrapped up endings in this movie, you have no way of knowing if the characters have made the right choices in their lives. This makes it tough for audiences and critics to embrace this movie, but if you do look deeply at it, and think about it, you will come to appreciate and love it.
Rating:
Summary: WHAT?!!? No awards or nominations for this beautiful film?!?
Review: This movie was moving, brilliantly filmed, consistent and thought provoking throughout. Each portrait is beautifully portrayed, each woman struggling with her own story, ghosts and baggage, fears and hopes, searching for a sense of her own power, all the while looking for something better... What will it take to seize the moment fearlessly?
Delia's story was heartbreaking: her roots, her history. Gripping fear keeps her from utilizing those chances to be vulnerable (since vulnerability has failed her in the past),to break free and to choose those people who can truly help her. She chooses, instead, her old survival tools--a tough exterior, self-sufficiency, and sexual power--which, in the end, is what she knows best.
Watching Greta was disconcerting...I am still not sure if she is a woman moving towards her own truth (ambition and power) or away from it (family and the beautiful husband). Still, attempting to figure her out, and coming up with a different answer each time, reminds me to be non-judgmental and allow everyone his or her own path.
Paula comes full circle: a runaway once herself, befriended and "adopted" by the gentle Haitian, she has one foot out the door when she learns she is pregnant. A near death experience and she bolts, she picks up a boy, also running and covered with visible cuts and bruises that mirror her own inner ones. She responds with such tenderness and vulnerability and forgives the boy for stealing her car...she has been transformed somehow by the experience, enough to feel the stirrings of life within her and taste joy. Which home will she choose?
Life is filled with opportunities to do things differently. My life has shown me that rigid formulas don't work in the long run. Every time that moment of transition calls us to take pause, we are offered, as our women were, a new opportunity to discern how we will respond.
Rating:
Summary: Endearing
Review: When the movie begins you feel a little dizzy. The camera shots (digital filming) are so close on the actors you feel somewhat suffocated and want to tell the cameraman "move back a little". This sort of filming takes time getting used to and until the end of the movie you feel you are inside the flesh and sweat of these people. The movie does no effort to give you good shots of its actors. You see the three heroines in very "ugly" moments with their make up running, etc. You are on top of them and in a way this "harsh" filming adds to your intimacy with the characters and the total immersing in the stories.
This is the story of three women, each one in a turning point in her life. I guess what the movie tries to show is this moment of revelation and understanding, where all pieces fall down in place. In fact, it sometimes reminded me of Raymond Carver harsh stories who deal with such brief moments in time. Here the story leads us to this personal discovery, after which nothing will be the same.
The first story is the story of Delia, a woman who used to have a personal feeling of that was when she was young, but this feeling was severely shattered through the years. Now, through a hard process of independence she gains this power again. Delia needs to remember she used to have strength. This is not the strength and power of love. Sadly, love weakened Delia. But now, in this stage of her life she needs her own power in order to survive. Since the movie "Phenomena" I have a soft spot in my heart for Kyra Sedgwick who was able to move me once again.
The second story is about Greta, a young ambitious editor. Greta has undergone a period where she rejected her father following his treatment of her mother. She used to be just like him when she was young but his actions caused her a sort of "numbness period" where she convinced herself that she could settle for a simple life with her loving, yet non ambitious husband. However, Greta' s true nature ("unfaithful" nature) comes out. She understands she is just like her father, full of ambitions and needs. This revelation causes her a lot of grief.
The last story is about Paula who shifts roles during the movie. From being a runaway girl, who could not handle a terrible accident she was part of, she turns on all her mother emotions and is now willing to take the responsibilities in her life.
The movie is absorbing and endearing. All characters are beautifully played and give you many hours of reflection and thoughts.
Rating:
Summary: Grand Jury Prize Winner at Sandance 2002
Review: Written and directed by Rebecca Miller, PERSONAL VELOCITY is a journey into the lives of three different women occurring simultaneously who are otherwise strangers in New York. Each protagonist has strained relationships with the men in their lives and are in search of answers that never arrive. The hardships and trials of Delia, Greta and Paula are poignantly narrated by John Ventimiglin and divided into their own segment of the film. First we meet Delia who is a former high school slut and in an abusive relationship. She must make decisions to keep herself and her children safe. Next we meet Greta who is an editor of cookbooks at a small publishing house and is questioning the livelihood of her marriage to a man not approved by her successful and powerful father. Last we meet Paula who picks up a shy teenage runaway and takes care of hime after her own brush with death. By far Greta resonated with me the most as I found the dialogue in her segment to be most witty and intelligent. I can fully understand why PERSONAL VELOCITY was the Grand Jury Prize winner at the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. It deserves to be praised because this film was brilliantly conceptualized and executed. Bravo!
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