When a Man Falls in the Forest (2007)

Director:

Ryan Eslinger

Writer:

Ryan Eslinger (written by)

Release Date:

6 March 2009 (Mexico)

Genre:

Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

In the end... she got what she wanted.

Plot:

The intertwining lives of three men reveal that each deal with his problems in different, self-destructive ways |

Plot Keywords:

Lucid Dream | Headset | Answering Machine | Car Salesman | Robbery

Awards:

4 nominations

Cast

Dylan Baker	...	Bill
Stacie Bono	...	Sadie
Timothy Hutton	...	Gary Fields
Sharon Stone	...	Karen Fields
Pruitt Taylor Vince	...	Travis Gilmore
David Williams	...	Will
Nicholas Elia	...	Eric
Melanie Yeats	...	Cathy
Peter Kawasaki	...	Business Man 1
Peter Jenkins	...	Bussines Man 2
John Prowse	...	Business Man 3
David Pearson	...	Co-Worker (as David Allan Pearson)
Phillip Mitchell	...	Mr. Curtis
Remy Ponak	...	Child in the Supermarket
Marko Holbein	...	Street Vendor (as Marko Hohlbein)

Also Known As:

Desires of a Housewife (USA) (working title)
Desires of a Woman - Menschen am Abgrund (Germany) (video title)
When a Man Falls (USA) (new title)

MPAA:

Rated R for some violent content.

Runtime:

86 min

Country:

Germany | Canada | USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:PG | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Company:

Insight Film Studios

A third of it is all right

There are basically 3 different stories that interconnect, actually two major stories and one minor one but in any case only one of them is actually done decently.

The arc involving Bill the Shy guy isn't bad. He's a bit of a stereotype but is charming and the incidents are amusing, if not altogether original. It could have been developed a bit more but then again, it's all been done better elsewhere.

The other major arc is a mess. The major problem is that the Timothy Hutton character is way too charismatic and astute to alienate everyone as he had done. I couldn't fathom why Sharon Stone would want to leave him or why his son detests him. Another problem is the Stone character - we get very little clue about her motivations or problems. There is a hint of a tragedy that took place - but it is never really developed. By that I don't mean that it needs to be explicitly stated, but how it changed the characters was never brought out. And the conclusion - well let's say that it's not implausible only because none of this subplot makes sense anyway.

The final arc with Hutton's best friend is too short to add much. It seems like filler. Actually, everything but the Bill story seems like filler.

This is yet another of those "indie" films made for Sundance with all the trappings of that genre, the "quirky" (in the 70's it was zany - now it's quirky...) characters and situations and the acoustic Grey's Anatomy soundtrack. Unfortunately, there's little of substance or interest underneath.