Playing by Heart

Rating:
Summary: Playing By Heart -- The Only Way To Live
Review: I saw this film as work of cinematic art. I was struck by the way each vignette flowed into the next and how each story was powerful in its own way. Though the stories are old and no new revelations about love are found, each character brings a new interpretation to those stale cliches. Gillian Anderson and Jon Stewart's pairing of thirtysomethings trying to work around fear was brilliantly cast and scripted, from Anderson's defense of "I can still be a wonderful person and not have anybody in my life" to the image of Stewart sharing a bed with Anderson's large dog. Anderson's character and past relationships, though somewhat a stereotype, have a modern twist that shouldn't be given away. Angelina Jolie gives a stunning performance as the tough club girl who can't seem to get through to the mysterious blue-haired Phillipe. Their tale, also cliche in its principle, is modernized by the discovery of the reason why Keenan won't let himself get close to Joan. The clues from all the characters and relationships culminate beautifully in the final scene at Hannah and Paul's fortieth anniversary celebration. This movie celebrates that sometimes people see what they want to see and not what is really there. This movie shows the stages of love in an honest depiction, from lovers just starting out to a couple who's been married for four decades, each of whom are just trying to figure it all out. Paul and Hannah put it best in their closing conversation as he asks, "What are we thinking?" Hannah replies, "If they only knew what we know." Paul concludes, "Then it would be all too easy."

Rating:
Summary: Stellar Cast and Poignant storylines...You'll fall in love
Review: If I could meet a lump collective of famous people, a great place to start would be the cast of Playing By Heart. I don't remember hearing "boo" about this movie. Nada, nuttin, zilch. Every single character is portrayed by a famous actor. And quite well I might add, I really enjoyed the depth brought to each performance.

Playing By Heart is a relationship movie. It's also billed as a romantic comedy on the video jacket. I beg to differ. It's a drama if I've ever seen one. Playing By Heart deals with some very complex relationship issues in a direct, honest manner. The intensity of the relationship formats is engrossing.

The movie is set up in a variety of pairings, not all of which are romantically linked. The relationships that are romantic, represent a wide spectrum of ages, and stages in such a relationship.

We meet Hannah (Gena Rowlands) and Paul (Sean Connery). They've been married forty years. Their relationship is in a state of flux almost from the very start of the movie. Their story is evidence that, even after all those years of marriage, there are things to discover about your spouse. The notion that Paul might still be carrying a torch for an old flame is a bone of contention between he and Hannah. One example of their combativeness is when Paul remarks, "It's been almost twenty-four hours since we traded barbs. We don't want to get rusty do we?"

Then there's Joan (Angelina Jolie) and Keenan (Ryan Phillippe). They are the young, wild twenty-somethings who discover each other in the L.A. club scene. Keenan is withdrawn and anti-social where Joan is boisterous and the poster child for high drama, her every life event intensely scrutinized for anyone who will listen. Joan keeps doing her level best to work her way into Keenan's life while he puts forth the same effort pushing her away. At one point, he finally tells her, "This isn't anything. This will never be anything." Meredith (Gillian Anderson), on the other hand, pushes men away because of a long history of being burned in relationships, or as she puts it, "scalded repeatedly". She is a theatre director who has been keeping herself consumed with work, but when she pulls a bookshelf down on herself at the library, an architect named Trent uses the opportunity to ask her out on a date.

He maintains that, "I'm not just asking you out to dinner as a preemptive strike against litigation." Despite her steadfastness to the contrary, she accepts, saying, "Anyone who can say preemptive strike against litigation with a straight face deserves a dinner companion."

Theirs becomes a rollercoaster relationship of her pushing him away and him not accepting her attempts to shut him out. Meredith makes some interesting observations about the dating process that anyone who is dating or has ever dated may find refreshingly honest. So much of the dating process is calculated artificiality. She even admits to Trent, that before their first date, she had been on the phone with her sister coming up with a psychological profile for him.

Perhaps the most intense relationship in the movie is a mother-son pairing. Mildred (Ellen Burstyn) is the mother to a gay son, Mark (Jay Mohr). He is in the hospital dying of, it is assumed, AIDS. His final wishes are to start their relationship over, being honest with each other and sharing some of their thoughts with each other. She, and the rest of Mark's family, had been in denial about his being gay, and he doesn't want his last days to be full of her denial about his dying. Some powerful and moving scenes between them.

As a mother with sons, the most moving moment was when he asked her to tell him a story. He wants to hear the last part of "Goodnight Moon". My boys have this book. We read it quite often. The thought of speaking those words to one of them as they lay dying in my arms tore through my heart. She also reflects on the time she was pregnant with him. These are instances that all you moms out there will be hard-pressed not to have tears streaming down your cheeks.

Among the other characters are Gracie (Madeleine Stowe) and Roger (Anthony Edwards), who are both married and having an affair. There is also Hugh (Dennis Quaid), who spends his nights going from bar to bar, telling tall tales of woe to any woman who will listen to him. Their relationships are evidence of the understanding one tries to have about what they are doing and why.

Why do some people love each other? How does it happen? Joan considers something a friend had told her once. "Talking about love is like dancing about architecture." She maintains that, however true that statement is, she's still going to try to talk about love anyway. On the flip side, Paul recalls the advice Joan had given their children about falling in love. "The wonderful thing about falling in love is you learn everything about that person and so quickly. And if it's true love, then you start to see yourself through their eyes. And it brings out the best in you. It's almost as if you're falling in love with yourself."

Playing By Heart is honest and genuine. Some of the honesty manifests itself in some big-time swearing and sexual innuendo, hence the "R" rating. It's a drama in the sense that relationships are dramas with light-hearted comedic moments to equal the playing field. It's about falling in love. It's about not wanting to fall in love but falling in love anyway.

Rating:
Summary: Good breadth, little depth
Review: This movie definitely has a lot of firepower in terms of its stars, the plot lines are interesting, and the characters are appealing. That said, because of the five separate story lines and the two hour running time, the amount of focus limited how much any one relationship could be developed. A good movie for romantics who don't mind a few tears!

Rating:
Summary: Lots of heart
Review: This is a warm and touching movie. Often when movies try to tell multiple stories at once it's just confusing but this works so well. Give "heart" a chance.

Rating:
Summary: Playing by Heart - A very special movie!
Review: "Playing by Heart" is one of those quaint movies that you might never have heard of. I certainly hadn't until cruising around Amazon one day and following a link for Gillian Anderson. Being interested in seeing her in a role outside of "The X-Files" I ordered this film but for whatever reasons, this DVD sat on the rack until recently. Clearly, after watching this, I should've checked it out sooner.

"Playing by Heart" is hinged upon a star studded cast and a casually paced but well timed and written script that plays very well emotionally. One cannot help but think that as an ensemble cast, the majority, if not all of the stars of this film, took a significant cut in pay for doing this film, in effect, showing their shared affections for the script.

On to this stellar cast, let's see, in alphabetical order; Gillian Anderson, Ellen Burstyn, Sean Connery, Anthony Edwards, Angelina Jolie, Jay Mohr, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Quaid, Gena Rowlands, Jon Stewart and Madeline Stowe, WOW! As expected, it was extremely wonderful to see Gillian Anderson outside of the "Scully" role and it will be nice to see her in future films. As is usual with Angelina Jolie, she presents an entirely different character in this film and displays perfectly the range of her acting skills. Overall kudos goes to the entire cast for their collective performances in this wonderful film about life.

High praise goes to Willard Carroll for having written and directed this charming and extremely enjoyable film! This movie apparently won high critical acclaim when it was in the theaters, and it now deserves as much acclaim as it can from those that count, movie watchers who enjoy well scripted and performed movies! The score plays perfectly to the film as well.

The Premise:

"Playing by Heart" is an extremely well told story about life, love and the ups and downs that love brings to those that try to embrace it. The movie cuts frequently between several different couples who are either struggling through the difficulties of burgeoning love, middle years of marriage or the older couple looking back upon their lives together.

What follows from there is a movie that leads to a wonderful ending that is unfortunately a bit predictable but doesn't detract from the experience in any way and in fact actually enhances the experience. I highly recommend this film to any and all that are fans of good movies! {ssintrepid}

Special Features:

This DVD is all about the movie itself!

Rating:
Summary: OMG this is the BEST movie EVER!!!
Review: I saw this movie in the theatres and immiediately fell in love with it. Of course I am a sucker for romantic movies and everything, but what made the movie so much more surprising is the end...and PLEASE don't let anyone tell you what happens. Gillian Anderson is incredible, Jon Stewart is completely charming and funny, Gena Rowlands and Sean Connery are a captivating couple and the rest of the cast including Jay Mohr, Dennis Quaid, Angelina Jolie, Ryan Phillipe, Ellen Burstyn, Madeleine Stowe, Anthony Edwards...(am I missing anyone?) give amazing performances. This movie is one that leaves the theatre with you. It's full of messages about love and life that are true to heart. For me, I totally related to Meredith (played by Anderson) and her character alone gave me courage to do things that I would never had attempted. This is a very sweet movie and I recommend it to just about anyone!!!

Rating:
Summary: Playing by Heart - A very special movie!
Review: "Playing by Heart" is one of those quaint movies that you might never have heard of. I certainly hadn't until cruising around Amazon one day and following a link for Gillian Anderson. Being interested in seeing her in a role outside of "The X-Files" I ordered this film but for whatever reasons, this DVD sat on the rack until recently. Clearly, after watching this, I should've checked it out sooner.

"Playing by Heart" is hinged upon a star studded cast and a casually paced but well timed and written script that plays very well emotionally. One cannot help but think that as an ensemble cast, the majority, if not all of the stars of this film, took a significant cut in pay for doing this film, in effect, showing their shared affections for the script.

On to this stellar cast, let's see, in alphabetical order; Gillian Anderson, Ellen Burstyn, Sean Connery, Anthony Edwards, Angelina Jolie, Jay Mohr, Ryan Phillippe, Dennis Quaid, Gena Rowlands, Jon Stewart and Madeline Stowe, WOW! As expected, it was extremely wonderful to see Gillian Anderson outside of the "Scully" role and it will be nice to see her in future films. As is usual with Angelina Jolie, she presents an entirely different character in this film and displays perfectly the range of her acting skills. Overall kudos goes to the entire cast for their collective performances in this wonderful film about life.

High praise goes to Willard Carroll for having written and directed this charming and extremely enjoyable film! This movie apparently won high critical acclaim when it was in the theaters, and it now deserves as much acclaim as it can from those that count, movie watchers who enjoy well scripted and performed movies! The score plays perfectly to the film as well.

The Premise:

"Playing by Heart" is an extremely well told story about life, love and the ups and downs that love brings to those that try to embrace it. The movie cuts frequently between several different couples who are either struggling through the difficulties of burgeoning love, middle years of marriage or the older couple looking back upon their lives together.

What follows from there is a movie that leads to a wonderful ending that is unfortunately a bit predictable but doesn't detract from the experience in any way and in fact actually enhances the experience. I highly recommend this film to any and all that are fans of good movies! {ssintrepid}

Special Features:

This DVD is all about the movie itself!

Rating:
Summary: Talking about love is.........
Review: When most movies boast of an "all-star cast," what they usually mean is 2, maybe 3 big name actors + a bunch of people you've never heard of. Not so with this film. With the likes of Dennis Quaid, Sean Connery, Madeline Stowe, Gillian Anderson and Angelina Jolie, this one truly lives up to the promise of having a celebrity-filled cast. They could have funded the first manned mission to Mars with the payroll of this movie. Even better, these are all cream-of-the-crop actors, as opposed to being big-name pseudo actors (like Keanu Reeves, for instance).

The story is about 3 sisters (Stowe, Anderson & Jolie), all of whom experience various troubles regarding men. Stowe's character is involved in a passionless marriage; the only way she can feel alive & vibrant is by engaging in a lascivious sexual arrangement with a fellow apartment tenant.

Anderson plays the sister "in the middle" who has been burned by men in her past & is apprehensive and more than a little bit reluctant to "play the field" again.

Jolie's persona, meanwhile, just plain can't seem to find the right guy. She goes thru frequent romances, but never finds a worthwhile partner to hang on to.

In the meantime, their parents are having their own marital troubles. Closing in on their 40th wedding anniversary, they cannot help but summon up ghosts of past lovers.

The tale is presented in a very different way than any other film I have ever seen. We see the characters deal with their individual struggles, then their stories are woven together at the end. This is a fascinating "angle" by which to detail the narrative.

The film is very well done & all of the acting performances, as expected with this ensemble, are impeccable. Jolie, in particular, stands out. The acting job she delivers is magnificent; I become a bigger & bigger fan of her's each movie I see her in. This is one of the best "date" movies I have ever seen; funny, yet emotionally poignant. Sometimes, it's best to play by heart.

Rating:
Summary: Lots of heart
Review: This is a warm and touching movie. Often when movies try to tell multiple stories at once it's just confusing but this works so well. Give "heart" a chance.

Rating:
Summary: a charmer
Review: if you liked love actually, then you probably will also like
this one. There are separate stories being played, each touching
some aspect of interpersonal relationships.. girl avoiding intimacy, boy avoiding intimacy, wife looking elsewhere for intimacy.. This does have it's sombre moments as well as moments
that will make you laugh out loud.
sean connery's voice and humour is impeccable as ever..
The ending brings the stories together in a kind of satisfying finale.. all in all, a movie worth watching.