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Directed by Jill Sprecher

Screenplay by Jill Sprecher and Karen Sprecher

Matthew McConaughey .... Troy
David Connelly .... Owen
John Turturro .... Walker
Joseph Siravo .... Bureau Chief
Clea DuVall .... Beatrice
A.D. Miles .... Co-Worker
Amy Irving .... Patricia
Alan Arkin .... Gene
Sig Libowitz .... Assistant Attorney
James Yaegashi .... Legal Assistant
Dion Graham .... Defense Attorney
Fernando López .... Defendant
Brian Smiar .... Judge
Paul Austin .... Bartender
Allie Woods Jr. .... Cab Driver (as Allie Woods)
Barbara Sukowa .... Helen
Rob McElhenney .... Chris Hammond
Avery Glymph .... Intelligent Student
Elizabeth Reaser .... Young Woman in Class
Deirdre Lovejoy .... Student Teacher
Barbara Andres .... Neighbor
William Severs .... Doctor
Joel Garland .... Mover
Tia Texada .... Dorrie
Peggy Gormley .... Bea's Mother
Malcolm Gets .... The Architect
Miles Thompson .... Neighborhood Boy
Robert Carricart .... Pastor
Frankie Faison .... Dick Lacey
William Wise .... Wade Bowman
Shawn Elliott .... Mickey Wheeler
Alex Burns .... Ronnie
James Murtaugh .... Lew Kincannon
Richard Council .... Del Strickland
Walt MacPherson .... Donald
Leo V. Finnie III .... Pete
Daryl Edwards .... Glenn
Charlie Schroeder .... Young Finance Manager
Robert Colston .... Sales Manager
Gammy Singer .... Gene's Secretary
Melissa Maxwell .... Del's Receptionist
Eliza Pryor Nagel .... Ronnie's Roommate
Jeff Robins .... Freeloader
Victor Truro .... Coffee Shop Counterman
Paul Klementowicz .... Public Defender
Phyllis Bash .... Judge
Peter McCabe .... Court Clerk
Christian Pabon .... Teenager on Subway

Produced by
Beni Tadd Atoori .... producer
Sabrina Atoori .... co-producer
Colin Bates (I) .... co-producer
James C.E. Burke .... executive producer
Heidi Crane .... executive producer
Andrew Fierberg .... co-producer
Laurie Hansen .... co-producer (uncredited)
Amy Hobby .... co-producer
Doug Mankoff .... executive producer
Stacy Plavoukos .... line producer
Gina Resnick .... producer
Andrew Spaulding .... executive producer
Sandy Stern .... executive producer
Michael Stipe .... executive producer
Peter Wetherell .... executive producer

Original music by Alex Wurman

Cinematography by Dick Pope

Film Editing by Stephen Mirrione

MPAA: Rated R for language and brief drug use.
For rating reasons, go to FILMRATINGS.COM, and MPAA.ORG.
Parents, please refer to PARENTALGUIDE.ORG

Trailer:
QuickTime, Various

A man approaching middle age decides to change his life. A rising young attorney's plans are thrown into disarray as the result of a single act. A woman faces her husband's infidelity. An envious businessman seeks revenge on a cheerful coworker and an optimistic young cleaning woman awaits a miracle. Just the ebb and flow of daily New York life: chaotic, isolated, diffuse.

Or is it? How can we know what effect we have on a passing stranger? What if the smallest gesture can change the course of someone's life? Perhaps fate is in fact a product of the choices we make -- how we choose to accept seemingly random events, whether or not we opt to see the interconnectedness of things. Perhaps, too, there really is a light at the end of the tunnel, even if we can't see it yet.

Thirteen Conversations About One Thing weaves five contemporary stories together into a single tale that examines the dramatic impact people have on one another. With a carefully constructed narrative that crisscrosses in time and doubles back on itself, the film offers an unusual glimpse into each character's past, present and future in ways that are both playful and poignant. The ideas it explores -- the meaning of true happiness, the notion of karma, the eternal power of hope -- strike with particular relevance in our increasingly frenetic, disjointed world.

That is one of the comments that make up 13 Conversations About One Thing. Part of the joy of the film (and, I expect, the inevitable discussion after the film) is trying to define just what that one thing is. I won't give my take on the one thing, it might color your viewing and thinking, but it really can't be put in just a word. The one thing is both simple and complex.

The film is actually four stories that have points of contact with one another. They are conveyed in a non-linear manner, although you really don't discover the key for the chronology until near the end of the film. Each of the stories in some way involves dealing with adversity in the midst of life.

On the film's website (http://www.sonyclassics.com/13conversations/), the writer/director (Jill Sprecher) has this to say about the film: "I have always been intrigued by the events that shape a person's life, that truly have the power to redirect it. By equal turns they can be grand and dramatic -- the kind that hit with a slap -- and simpler, more mundane, arriving in the form of small gestures. Such moments always manage to come as a surprise, and never where one might expect to find them. And often, they seem to contain an element of grace."

The film's website also tells of the genesis of the film in an event in Jill Sprecher's life in the 90's. She had suffered a serious head injury in a mugging. About a year later, while on the subway, someone came up and slapped her on the head. All the anger inside her began to work its way to the surface. She looked at another passenger on the car, who smiled at her. And in that smile was healing. Various bits of that experience make their way into the movie.

"Once I knew a happy man. His happiness was a curse." That line could certainly be used to talk about Job. The story of Job is one of the most complex in the Bible. It, like this film, deals with adversity that comes into life and how we might respond. There are connections with Job in the film. Job is quoted. In one scene, two of the characters are riding on the subway, and behind each of these suffering people is a sticker for HotJobs.com (product placement or a subtle clue pointing to the One Thing?) Although it isn't structured like the story of Job, it certainly raises the same questions about suffering and justice in a seemingly chaotic universe. (I don't think it's coincidental that Sprecher was a philosophy major in college.)

This is a movie in which you have to pay attention. There are many small things that will have meaning later in the film. The script, while seeming to bounce around between the various stories, is actually tightly constructed, and the visuals are so involved in the narration that they make this an excellent example of a full utilization of cinematic storytelling. It is a film that I'm looking forward to watching a second time (and perhaps more) to see again the things I may have overlooked. And to make note of all the thirteen conversations and seeing just how they tie together.

Every day, as we go about our lives, we meet or walk by so many people. Every day we may be the force that shapes another's life. Or perhaps they will be the force that shapes our life. Our lives are interwoven with the lives around us -- even if we only briefly touch. 13 Conversations About One Thing interweaves the stories of a few people in such a way that we can see life as chaotic, or as many chances at grace.

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