'LOOKING' INTO LIVES OF WOMEN.Byline: David Kronke TV Critic Intended as a theatrical release, ``Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her'' turned out to be, in the minds of certain Powers That Be, too recherche re·cher·ché adj. 1. Uncommon; rare. 2. Exquisite; choice. 3. Overrefined; forced. 4. Pretentious; overblown. to merit a run in our nation's multiplexes and so premieres tonight on Showtime. Wasn't the idea originally that films were supposed to be too subtle and nuanced to debut on TV, not that TV movies were too smart to stop at theaters? Writer/director Rodrigo Garcia (the son of novelist Gabriel Garcia Marquez Gar·cí·a Már·quez , Gabriel Born 1928. Colombian-born writer known especially for his novel One Hundred Years of Solitude (1967). He won the 1982 Nobel Prize for literature. ), in his first feature, has deftly created an anthology film that explores infinitely more fascinating aspects of women and their concerns than Showtime's more widely hyped miniseries ``A Girl Thing.'' (It also boasts an equally impressive cast, which, to a woman, tones down the star power to give quietly powerful performances.) Garcia tells five stories of widely diverse women who live throughout the San Fernando Valley San Fernando Valley Valley, southern California, U.S. Northwest of central Los Angeles, the valley is bounded by the San Gabriel, Santa Susana, and Santa Monica mountains and the Simi Hills. , whose lives intersect in small, discreet ways. ``This Is Dr. Keener,'' the first story, features Glenn Close as a physician caring for her mother who discovers more than she wants to about herself from Christine (Calista Flockhart Calista Kay Flockhart (born on November 11, 1964) is an Emmy Award-nominated and Golden Globe-winning American actress, primarily on soap operas and television. She is perhaps best known for playing the title character of Ally McBeal (1997 - 2002). ), a tarot tarot Sets of cards used in fortune-telling and in certain card games. The origins of tarot cards are obscure; cards approximating their present form first appeared in Italy and France in the late 14th century. card reader. ``Fantasies About Rebecca'' stars Holly Hunter Holly Hunter (born March 20, 1958) is an Academy Award-winning American actress. Biography Early life Hunter was born in Conyers, Georgia, the daughter of Opal Marguerite (née Catledge), a housewife, and Charles Edwin Hunter, a farmer and sporting-goods as a headstrong head·strong adj. 1. Determined to have one's own way; stubbornly and often recklessly willful. See Synonyms at obstinate, unruly. 2. Resulting from willfulness and obstinacy. bank manager coping with a persistent homeless woman and an unexpected pregnancy by a married lover (Gregory Hines). ``Someone for Rose'' concerns a single mother (Kathy Baker) intrigued by a new neighbor who happens to be a dwarf (Danny Woodburn). ``Goodnight Lilly, Goodnight Christine'' returns Flockhart to the screen, as her character reminisces about happier days with her terminally ill Terminally Ill When a person is not expected to live more than 12 months. Notes: Any gifts given out by the afflicted person at this time may be considered as a dispersion of the estate rather than a gift. lover (Valeria Golino). In ``Love Waits for Kathy,'' Amy Brenneman and Cameron Diaz star as a solitary police detective and her socially active blind sister, respectively; the cop accidentally overhears her sister joke about her uptightness with a lover. Taken together, the stories seem to have an overarching theme of the difficulties of communication - revelations come either haltingly or seemingly too casually, with emotions perpetually pinned down. These tales are effective because they play simply as honest slice-of-life vignettes, with no grand or phony resolutions or lessons learned, and the cumulative effect is haunting and provocative. The character's little challenges, minute victories, tiny humiliations and quiet moments will linger in one's memory far longer than the more grandiose bombast most films like to foist foist tr.v. foist·ed, foist·ing, foists 1. To pass off as genuine, valuable, or worthy: "I can usually tell whether a poet . . . on audiences. ``THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER'' What: Film about the interconnecting lives of a disparate group of women in the San Fernando Valley. The stars: Glenn Close, Cameron Diaz, Calista Flockhart, Kathy Baker, Amy Brenneman, Holly Hunter. Where: Showtime. When: 8 tonight; also March 17 and 22. Our rating: Three and one half stars CAPTION(S): photo Photo: Glenn Close is a doctor haunted by a tarot-card reading in ``Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her.'' |
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