”PLAYING by Heart” is an unfortunately generic title that doesn’t begin to suggest the quirky pleasures in this minor, but observant and brilliantly acted comedy-drama.
The original title, ‘Dancing About Architecture,” would have been better; it comes from a line spoken by Angelina Jolie in the movie’s opening scene. ‘Talking about love,” she says, ‘is like dancing about architecture.” By which she means that the essence of love is to be found in the experience of loving, not in holding it up to analysis.
And that’s what the neurotic Los Angeles couples in this gently provocative movie just can’t stop doing. The action – and there’s not much of it in this cool talkfest – centers around six variations-on-a-theme stories of male-female love.
You may go bug-eyed when Sean Connery and Gena Rowlands now that’s casting! turn up as a couple suffering a crisis in the twilight of their long and happy marriage. They are so good together I wouldn’t have complained had the movie spent its entire two hours on their characters, Paul and Hannah. Paul is dying of a brain tumor, and Hannah, no doubt displacing her anxiety over his imminent demise, keeps lighting into him about an affair he may or may not have had many years earlier.
Even better, and even more surprising, are sexpot Jolie and Ryan Philippe, of all people, as lovelorn L.A. club kids. Motormouth Joan (Jolie) is crazy for Keenan (Philippe), an icy blue-blonde Adonis who remains aloof from her charms for a mysterious reason. Jolie, who has never been better, carries on like the kind of knockout who is used to getting exactly what she wants; Philippe’s blase reaction humbles her, and ultimately leads to a startling, heartbreaking revelation.
Elsewhere in the city, Gillian Anderson is Meredith, a theatrical producer who has locked herself in an impregnable tower to keep her oft-broken heart safe. Jon Stewart plays the charming and patient suitor who sees Meredith’s true worth, and tries to hold out against her bitchy slings and arrows.
Madeleine Stowe plays a married woman having a clandestine affair with Anthony Edwards, who would like to proceed beyond the slam-bam-thank-you-ma’am stage. She resists, preferring not to fudge her physical pleasure with romantic complications.
An exceptionally moving Dennis Quaid plays a miserable loner who makes sport of sidling up to women in bars and spinning elaborate, emotionally manipulative tales while getting soused. And finally, Ellen Burstyn plays an emotionally restrained mother who jets to the bedside of her AIDS-ravaged son (Jay Mohr), whose imminent demise encourages the two to share intimacies they’ve avoided all their lives.
Five story lines and 11 characters in two hours’ time – that’s a lot to keep airborne at once, so it’s not all that surprising that writer-director Willard Carroll drops the ball on the AIDS segment, which seems too abbreviated, forced and out of place here.
But that feels like quibbling, considering how strong most of this material is. The structure of Carroll’s screenplay is admirably complex, disclosing surprise connections and tying things up nicely by the end. The dialogue sounds real, and the confused, struggling characters, fumbling and staggering their way along a conversational gantlet, all too real. Carroll’s point is that love may not consist in talking, but that’s the only way to break down the barriers of fear, mistrust and deception that keep love at bay.
‘Playing by Heart” will not be not to everyone’s taste. Some will no doubt find it too vignette-y and low-key to hold their interest (there’s a reason Chet Baker’s moody, downbeat jazz compositions figure prominently in the soundtrack). Patience: despite the lack of dramatic crescendos, the characters do grow on you, and the calm, constant rhythm of the film mesmerizes. Carroll’s terrific cast, and his cool, steady, insinuating style make ‘Playing by Heart” more mature and rewarding than the throwaway title would suggest.
PLAYING BY HEART
1/2
Written and directed by Willard Carroll. Starring Angelina Jolie, Sean Connery. Running time: 121 minutes. Rating: R. At Lincoln Square, Chelsea Cinemas, Village East, others.
