Playing by Heart

      Playing by Heart was shot in 1998. The movie was written and directed by Willard Carroll More

The movie has one of the best casts I have ever seen in a movie. Let’s start with the impressive cast members:

Angelina Jolie, The X Files’ Scully Gillian Anderson, the favorite Bond Sean Connery, Dennis Quaid, Ryan Phillippe Madeleine Stowe (Revenge, The General’s Daughter, We were Soldiers), Gena Rowlands (Hope Floats, Hysterical Blindness), Jon Stewart, Ellen Burstyn (Requiem for a Dream and Jay Mohr (Go, Action).

         The movie consists of several stories focusing on seemingly unrelated characters. As the story progresses, we learn more about their backgrounds and how they connect.

The Plot

Hugh(Dennis Quaid):  He walks into a bar. He says to a stranger that his wife and kid have been killed. The woman immediately feels compassionate and talks to him. Later in the movie though, we realize this guy has a habit of walking into different bars, talking to different types of women and telling each one a different story.

 Paul and Hannah:Sean Connery and Gena Rowlands play a married couple who have been together for a long time. They have grown kids and though loving towards each other, they seem to be a little unsettled. The husband has a brain tumor, their milestone anniversary party is getting closer and the wife is also anxious to solve an unresolved issue: the affair the husband had decades ago…

Meredith: Gillian Anderson plays Meredith who is directing a play and doesn’t seem much too willing to concentrate on anything besides her work and passion. Then she accidentally meets the architect working at her building- the charming Trent (Jon Stewart) who asks her out. As great as Trent seems, Meredith has been burned way too many times before and she is quite cynical when it comes to the affairs of the heart…

 Joan: Joan (Angelina Jolie):She is quite a vivid, talkative red-haired character. She is full of life. One day she meets Ryan Phillipe’s Keenan in her fav. nightclub through an amusing encounter and gets to talk to him. He seems pretty much the opposite. He is the quiet type, doesn’t like to say much about himself and seems a little bored and taken aback by her extra energy. She obviously likes the guy but he might be a hard one to figure out…

 Mildred: Mildred (Ellen Burstyn) is visiting his son at the hospital. He is gay and dying of AIDS. They have little time left together and they don’t want to waste it by not being honest with each other.

 Gracie (Madeline Stowe): She is cheating on her husband. She is happy with the casualness of her affair, although her lover seems to be fascinated by her.

            As we find out how the characters know about each other, the story gets more and more interesting. All the major characters seem to have flaws but they are rather likable despite of it. They are easy to empathize with. The movie is about 2 hours long and of course one can argue that we can’t get to know all the characters well enough. We really can’t- but the director provides enough info on them so that they don’t seem one dimensional or shallow. Some of the relationships develop quickly: You might also think Joan & Keenan and Trent & Meredith bond too deeply and much too quickly. But sometimes it just happens that way in real life too, doesn’t it? Sometimes the person you met just the other day feels closer to you than a person you’ve known for years.

       I like this film. It is emotional, fun, romantic, not so romantic, bittersweet and sad. It has great contradictions and real events that get in people’s way and how they live their lives.he ensemble is great- I love all the actors listed above- although I liked Gillian Anderson even more with this film. It is well-paced. I suspect women will enjoy this gem of a movie more than the men. But if watched open-minded, I think everyone can find something they like and relate to in this film.