Melinda and Melinda (2004)

Synopsis: Two stories unfold with a similar premise: an unexpected woman butts in at a dinner party; one story is tragic, the other comic.
Appraisal: This is my second viewing of this film (my previous review was posted on this blog on June 30, 2006). I had to see it again because I was very tired when I first saw it, fighting sleep all the way through, and I thought that might have reflected on my poor rating. In fact, that was the case: this is not a bad movie, although the artificiality in character construction was correctly pointed out. On the other hand, the lack of visual brilliance was incorrectly criticized, I see it now: the film was strikingly well shot and designed, though I don't know whether this was the director's work or the cinematographer's and the production designer's (caveat: my appreciation of the camerawork is approximate at best because I saw it both times in a pan-and-scan version). I still maintain that the film bears little or no connection with anybody's real life, Manhattanite or not, but its cerebralism is engaging and reveals an apt storyteller.
Rating: 60 (up from 14, shame on me...)