Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her

Movie Name: Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her
Year of Release: 2000
Director: Rodrigo Garcia
Starring: Glenn Close, Holly Hunter, Cameron Diaz, Amy Brenneman, Calista Flockhart, Kathy Baker, Valeria Golino, Matt Craven, Gregory Hines, Miguel Sandoval, Noah Fleiss, Danny Woodburn, Roma Maffia, Penelope Allen, Elpidia Carrillo
Score out of ten (whole numbers only): 5
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Synopsis and Review

"Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her" premiered at the Sundance Film Festival of the year 2000, and was in fact Rodrigo Garcia's feature directorial debut, following an established career as a cinematographer (he lensed the films "Danzon" for Maria Novaro and "Gia" for Michael Christofer, to name but a few). The film is comprised of a series of vignettes, or a kaleidoscope of situations, where certain characters cross paths and some do not. The narrative starts with a police detective and her partner investigating the apparent suicide of an unknown woman. That prologue quickly moves on to Dr. Elaine Keener who is taking care of her elderly mother. She receives the visit of Christine, a young woman who reads tarot cards. Christine's insights spark shock and self-assessment on Dr. Keener's part. For her part, Christine is dealing with a challenging domestic situation, as her life partner is dying of a terminal illness. She cares for Lilly as much as she can in their sparsely decorated apartment. Another vignette focuses on the story of Rebecca, a successful and independent bank manager who has had an ongoing affair with Robert (who is married). She discovers she is pregnant, but still embarks on a flirtatious relationship that becomes sexual with one man on her staff, Walter. She decides to terminate the pregnancy. Another vignette focuses on Rose, who is a divorced mom, writing children's books. She becomes fascinated with her new neighbor, a little-person by the name of Albert. She gives him a ride home from the grocery store, and gets to know more about his situation. She also realizes her teenage son is far more worldly and sexually active than she expected. Another vignette focuses on the police detective who discovered the dead woman's body. Kathy lives with her beautiful blind sister, who coincidentally has started to date Walter (Rebecca's staff member). While Walter discard's Carol, Kathy in the meantime starts dating the medical examiner of her case. She is intent in finding why the woman she discovered killed herself. 

This type of mosaic storytelling isn't always the easiest one to construct and consume. Mostly because introducing many characters and many situations, doesn't allow for the audience to fully understand who they are, ending up by at times having characters and situations that feel under-developed. "Things You Can Tell Just By Looking At Her" suffers a bit from this issue. The women who populate this film are far more complex and dimensional than what this screen time allows, and eventually the film treats some of these stories almost like a soap opera of sorts. Some of these episodes are far more dramatic and deserve a bit more room to be fully explored than they end up having. And while not everything needs to be explained or appeased, this film both asks for us to empathize with these characters, while also being severely short-handed with giving us enough insight towards them and their choices. It's a film that wants us to look at the seemingly unexpected connections that occur between people, but that also asks that we reflect on the consequences of choices we make, and how that trickles into many unexpected situations, something that is illustrated by these characters. The film is largely held up by a talented cast, particularly Calista Flockhart, Glenn Close, and Kathy Baker, who shine in their roles. The production team is solid, including Emmanuel Lubezki's cinematography and Edward Shearmur's score. It's an interesting feature, though this director has since done more rewarding films.