Personal Velocity is like a filmed version of an audio book. Rebecca Miller wrote the novel on which this movie is based and is a great example of how authors are not always the best choice to adapt their own work for the silver screen. Essentially three separate vignettes about women stuck in bad situations, this film is also a great example that some stories just don't transfer from the page to the screen.
The movie begins with the story of Delia Shunt (Kyra Sedgwick). Delia started out as a high school slut with a magnificent ass but grew up to be a middle aged woman with three kids and an abusive husband. Finally fed up with her husband's beatings, Delia takes her kids and leaves. First, they end up in a shelter. Then they take up residence in the garage of the fat girl Delia used to stick up for in high school. Delia takes a job at a local diner, gives a hand job to the son of the diner's owner and that's pretty much her story.
Then we move on to Greta (Parker Posey). She's the black sheep from a family of Jewish high achievers, who drops out of the fast lane to success after her father divorces her mother and starts a new family with another woman. Greta marries a safe, nice, unambitious man who she nevertheless cheats on. Then Greta gets a promotion at work and finds herself back on track to the top of the economic ladder and realizes she's going to dump the decent guy she married.
Finally, we meet Paula. She's a young woman who ran away from home and ended up finding a boyfriend and living with him in the big city. Paula gets pregnant, doesn't tell her boyfriend but instead, goes out clubbing. She meets a guy who ends up getting killed next to her on the street. That sends Paula driving out of the city, where he picks up a teenage hitchhiker on the way to see her mom. Paula discovers the boy hitchhiker had been brutally abused and offers to let him stay with Paula and her boyfriend. The boy ends up stealing Paula's car and she lets him get away with it.
Firstly, you may notice that the stories of these women get lamer as they go along. Delia's is the best of the lot, with a real beginning, middle and end and an actual point of Delia controlling her sexuality instead of letting it control her. Greta's segment isn't so much a story as a character portrait of a young woman caught between what she wants and what she's good at. Paula's story isn't even a real portrait. It's more like a couple of strange incidents in a young woman's life that mean a lot to her but don't have much meaning to anyone else. And as Personal Velocity is less than 90 minutes long, we never get the whole picture of any of these women. It's like the Cliffsnotes version of three Lifetime Channel movies squished into one film.
The characters also get weaker as the movie goes along. Delia is a hard but likable woman that you can empathize with. When she's angry or mean, Sedgwick lets you see that behavior as Delia's defenses against a world that's treated her poorly. Greta is, frankly, a bitch who's problems are largely of her own making. Posey tries to make her relatable, but she's fundamentally not nearly as sympathetic as the movie thinks she is. Paula is unhappy and that's about it. The story gives no genuine depth to the character and Balk doesn't provide any in her performance.
Miller's direction is pedestrian, at best, and her use of an intrusive male narrator voice to, I would guess, simply read passages out of the book throughout the film is the mark of someone who doesn't understand the visual medium. Instead of making a movie, she tries to recreate the experience of reading her book. But if you want the experience of reading a book, you read a book. This movie is the equivalent of someone writing a short story about what it's like to listen to Britney Spears sing "Hit me baby, one more time".
You might have been able to make a better movie just out of the story of Delia Shunt. She's a strong, interesting character facing meaningful challenges and responding to them in an intriguing way. The other two segments of Personal Velocity simply don't measure up. This film needed a filmmaker who could look at the book and recognize what would and wouldn't work as a movie. Rebecca Miller couldn't do that.
I hope Personal Velocity, the book, was good. Personal Velocity, the movie, is nothing to write home about.
The movie begins with the story of Delia Shunt (Kyra Sedgwick). Delia started out as a high school slut with a magnificent ass but grew up to be a middle aged woman with three kids and an abusive husband. Finally fed up with her husband's beatings, Delia takes her kids and leaves. First, they end up in a shelter. Then they take up residence in the garage of the fat girl Delia used to stick up for in high school. Delia takes a job at a local diner, gives a hand job to the son of the diner's owner and that's pretty much her story.
Then we move on to Greta (Parker Posey). She's the black sheep from a family of Jewish high achievers, who drops out of the fast lane to success after her father divorces her mother and starts a new family with another woman. Greta marries a safe, nice, unambitious man who she nevertheless cheats on. Then Greta gets a promotion at work and finds herself back on track to the top of the economic ladder and realizes she's going to dump the decent guy she married.
Finally, we meet Paula. She's a young woman who ran away from home and ended up finding a boyfriend and living with him in the big city. Paula gets pregnant, doesn't tell her boyfriend but instead, goes out clubbing. She meets a guy who ends up getting killed next to her on the street. That sends Paula driving out of the city, where he picks up a teenage hitchhiker on the way to see her mom. Paula discovers the boy hitchhiker had been brutally abused and offers to let him stay with Paula and her boyfriend. The boy ends up stealing Paula's car and she lets him get away with it.
Firstly, you may notice that the stories of these women get lamer as they go along. Delia's is the best of the lot, with a real beginning, middle and end and an actual point of Delia controlling her sexuality instead of letting it control her. Greta's segment isn't so much a story as a character portrait of a young woman caught between what she wants and what she's good at. Paula's story isn't even a real portrait. It's more like a couple of strange incidents in a young woman's life that mean a lot to her but don't have much meaning to anyone else. And as Personal Velocity is less than 90 minutes long, we never get the whole picture of any of these women. It's like the Cliffsnotes version of three Lifetime Channel movies squished into one film.
The characters also get weaker as the movie goes along. Delia is a hard but likable woman that you can empathize with. When she's angry or mean, Sedgwick lets you see that behavior as Delia's defenses against a world that's treated her poorly. Greta is, frankly, a bitch who's problems are largely of her own making. Posey tries to make her relatable, but she's fundamentally not nearly as sympathetic as the movie thinks she is. Paula is unhappy and that's about it. The story gives no genuine depth to the character and Balk doesn't provide any in her performance.
Miller's direction is pedestrian, at best, and her use of an intrusive male narrator voice to, I would guess, simply read passages out of the book throughout the film is the mark of someone who doesn't understand the visual medium. Instead of making a movie, she tries to recreate the experience of reading her book. But if you want the experience of reading a book, you read a book. This movie is the equivalent of someone writing a short story about what it's like to listen to Britney Spears sing "Hit me baby, one more time".
You might have been able to make a better movie just out of the story of Delia Shunt. She's a strong, interesting character facing meaningful challenges and responding to them in an intriguing way. The other two segments of Personal Velocity simply don't measure up. This film needed a filmmaker who could look at the book and recognize what would and wouldn't work as a movie. Rebecca Miller couldn't do that.
I hope Personal Velocity, the book, was good. Personal Velocity, the movie, is nothing to write home about.