FINE WORK FROM ALL IN 'CASA'.

Byline: Evan Henerson Staff Writer

Luck finds certain people: a truism that applies to infants, children, parents and adults looking to procreate. Heck, if you extend the metaphor of chance as it applies to John Sayles' film ``Casa de los Babys,'' you might make the case that some nations are luckier than others.

It's by no means accidental that Diomedes, the unemployed house builder/tour guide played in the film by Bruno Bichir, clutches his lottery ticket with the falsest of hope as he watches the balls slide into place. He's looking to get to Philadelphia: ``the cradle of liberty.''

Similarly, there has to be some sort of divine randomness that determines which of the six American women will have her adoption completed first. The film's penultimate scene gives us that answer, and it's a twist.

As rich in ideas as it is in fine acting, ``Los Babys'' is another smart movie from a smart man who will likely never make a blockbuster. Directing from his own script, Sayles gives us 95 minutes of sociological snapshots. We meet the hopeful American mothers looking to adopt babies in an unnamed Latin American country; we meet the people who empty their trash and clean their hotel rooms. We also meet the townspeople, folks like Diomedes and Celia (Martha Higareda) who will get to America ... although not for the happiest of reasons.

Sayles reveals just enough about his continental sextet. Jennifer (Maggie Gyllenhaal) hopes a baby will shore up her shaky marriage. Eileen (Susan Lynch) may run out of money before she can wait out the process. Skipper (Daryl Hannah) has waited the longest, and suffered the greatest personal loss.

Gayle (Mary Steenburgen) knows how to seek out an AA meeting even in a country where she doesn't speak the language. Leslie (Lili Taylor), an editor at a New York publishing house, plans to be a single parent. Nancy (Marcia Gay Harden), the prototypical ugly American abroad, thinks a well-placed bribe is the best way to grease the wheels of an international adoption. She's mistaken.

We observe the women together, in pairs and alone. They question one another's fitness for parenthood, but the film never judges them, and several of the performers - Hannah in particular - get to shine in ways that their work in previous films has never allowed.

There's an absolutely heartbreaking scene that finds Eileen and the hotel maid Asuncion (Vanessa Martinez) sharing their dreams in languages that neither can understand. Harden's bullying encounter with her advocate (Pedro Armendariz Jr.) also has the ring of truth.

And of course we see the babies, the ``army of souls'' as one nurse calls them, waiting to be cuddled, fed or taken home. Maybe in a few years, one of those babies will end up on the streets of their own country. Or perhaps, she is fated to become the daughter of a well-to-do D.C. 25- year-old who can't have children of her own.

A roll of the dice will make the determination. So says a film and a filmmaker whose many gifts have nothing to do with luck or chance.

Evan Henerson, [phone]

evan.henerson(at)dailynews.com

CASA DE LOS BABYS - Three and one half stars

(R: language, brief drug use)

Starring: Maggie Gyllenhaal, Marcia Gay Harden, Mary Steenburgen, Daryl Hannah, Susan Lynch, Lili Taylor.

Director: John Sayles.

Running time: 1 hr. 35 min.

Playing: Pacific ArcLight Theatre, Laemmle Playhouse 7, Pacific The Grove Stadium, Landmark NuWilshire.

In a nutshell: ``Upstairs Downstairs,'' John Sayles style. In an unnamed Latin American country, we encounter six American women waiting to adopt babies. We also get to know the hotel staff who clean their rooms.

CAPTION(S):

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Photo:

Before they can adopt children, Maggie Gyllenhaal, left, and Marcia Gay Harden must wait out a residency requirement in a Latin American country in ``Casa de los Babys.''