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THE WEST WITTERING AFFAIR A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2006 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): *** 1/2
So have you ever been to a play in a small out of the way theater, in which the seats weren't particularly cushy and the sets weren't very elaborate, but you were immediately transported into a wonderful world, nonetheless, simply because of the superb quality of the acting? David Scheinmann's THE WEST WITTERING AFFAIR, winner of a special jury award for the acting ensemble at this year's Cinequest Film Festival in San Jose, is one such movie. This is an indie which could never be mistaken for a big Hollywood production, which is not necessarily a bad thing. When the sometimes silly but always believable story ends, you won't be willing to let your newfound friends go. By then they will have worked their way into your hearts, so having to bid them adieu is like finding out that your favorite neighbor has just gotten a new job in another town and has to move away.
As the story starts, Natasha (Rebecca Cardinale), Cathy (Sarah Sutcliffe) and Jamie (Danny Scheinman) are off to the country for the weekend. They end up drinking a bit too much, and Jamie finds himself having sex with both of the females. Since the women are best friends, jealousy and recriminations ensue when they learn the truth. The characters, who all have a strong sense of self, are quite funny in subtly humorous ways. But the laughs are never at the expense of the characters' believability. Even when the two women get a bit outrageous, they stay grounded in reality. They remain fundamentally normal people, not the ridiculously wacky ones in most would-be comedies. Most of all, the characters don't take themselves too seriously, and the story features plenty of decidedly sweet introspection.
The dialog is consistently sharp, especially in the humorous discussion of sex. Perhaps the best character of all is the one who wasn't with the others in the country. a therapist named Greg (David Annen) who disapproves of everything his patient, Jamie, tells him. Greg, however, wants to hear as many of the juicy details as possible. As it turns out, he can't be dispassionate about what happened since he is in a relationship with one of the women. The therapist is a great bad guy. You'll love despising him. (I should point out that my wife doesn't think Greg is a bad guy. She believes the evil one is another character.)
Although the film is a real crowd-pleaser, the sex scenes feature too much playful frolicking and rolling around and are needlessly silly and awkwardly staged. The movie is at its best in a few of its smallest moments. The best of these has Jamie pushing apart the two women at breakfast the morning after the trysts, so that he can sit between them. The incident is nicely symbolic of what has occurred and what is yet to come.
"So where do we go from here" one character asks somewhere after the midpoint of the story. This proves to be a good question, since a switch in tone is about to occur, and the question is whether the cast and crew are up to it. But never fear, the whirlwind of the last act mixes the serious with the humorous quite successfully. The only complaint might be that the story ends too satisfactorily, which isn't exactly the worst thing that could be said of a film.
THE WEST WITTERING AFFAIR runs a fast and breezy 1:30. It is not rated but might be R for language and sexuality and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film does not yet have its United States opening scheduled. Hopefully some distributor will pick it up quickly, so that others can enjoy this marvelous movie as well.
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