Title: The Business of Strangers |
Release Date: 2001 |
Nationality and Language: |
Running time: about 85 Minutes |
|
Distributor and Production Company: |
Director; Writer: Patrcik Stettner |
Producer: Robert Nathan |
Cast: Stockard Channing, Julie Stiles, Frederick Weller |
Technical: 1.8:1 Digital |
Relevance to HPPUB site: independent film; workplace issues |
Review: Earlier this year I saw I5’s The Deep End, and again I am struck by this piercing, detailed,
intense, intimate, “you are there” style of
independent filmmaking about :our modern life.” There is a vision, directness and
confrontational nature to the screenplay, the look of the film, and
engagement of the audience that you don’t find in the polished style of
entertainment from larger The setup is this: Julie Styron
(Stockard Channing) has
just failed to win a big account at an airport hotel because her technical
assistant Paula Murphy (Julie Stiles) arrived late because of a delayed
flight. Styron fires her, and then learns she must
return quickly because she is about to get canned herself. It’s very
unnerving to be “on the road” and worried about losing your job back home.
Then her flight from Paul plays up the family values problem. At one point, she taunts Julie: “you have no family.” No children. We’re ready for the baby boon. Yup, her career is her life, or is it? Stockard Channing truly dominates this film, making herself and, by a kind of derailment, the other two main characters all into rather creepy enigmas. Stockard Channing,
also well known for her appearance in The West Wing, does not appear
in the documentary Searching for Debra Winger
(Lions Gate Films, 2002, 99 min, dir. Rosanna Arquette),
interviewing a number of mature actresses about the resistance they meet in
their careers in getting leading roles. Now The Business of Strangers is a
good leading role. I can imagine other such roles, such as Greta Cammermeyer’s character (a lesbian colonel in the
National Guard) in Serving in Silence. The film does interview Debra Winger, |
Related reviews: The Deep End, Stonewall |
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Email me at Jboushka@aol.com