Adrift in Manhattan (2007)

Save your money for something good and enjoyable

Let's be realistic.

Strong acting helps the film overcome an uncertain premise and create characters that hold our attention absolutely.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

i had never heard of this movie so i usually go for the unknowns as it will be wonderful or just awful. i lucked out because this movie is delightful in every way!! and i cannot state that enough!the director - Alfredo De Villa & the writers have brought to the screen a story that gets beneath the often hard shell we surround ourselves with on a daily basis. everybody has problems and issues and desires that can fog our daily lives. and this story brings three people (unknowingly) together that make a difference in each of their lives.i will not get into the details of this movie because discovering them for yourself is part of the pleasure in watching these three discovering parts of their own life (does that make sense).by all means make this flick a quest in your movie watching!!!

This movie is a pleasant surprise that returns faith in American movie, the faith that has been suffering for a long while, recovering just rarely by Tim Burton's work or movies like "Eternal Sunshine..." We – especially us who live outside USA – have been exposed to so much Hollywood vain, shallow, plastic movies in range from superhero action violence and funless teen comedies to the worst movie blasphemies - remakes, that we use to forget that there are small movies untouched by Hollywood lethal sauce. Even masterpieces like Big Fish, Edward Scissorhand, Chocolate, Green Mile (or already mentioned Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind) have a clear Hollywood sign, and after all those Rambos and American Pies, comics based blockbusters and remakes of French movies (what is additionally ironic because average American movie consumer would rather see a rattlesnake on the floor than French movie on the screen) this touch of Hollywood became odious, what is a tragic decline for this old temple of movies... just few decades ago the touch of Hollywood style was the best praise a movie could be given.Adrift in Manhattan is more European style than any American movie I've seen for a long while; even more, it is more European style than many European movies made in last two decades. Too many European movie makers make movies to fit into Hollywood standards, hoping it will sell better; now, American authors teach Europe a lesson how good a movie can exist without Hollywood sugar, false glamour and forced tears.The basic thing that connects main characters in the movie is loneliness. Though set on Manhattan we don't get the feeling that the big city is the prime suspect for their loneliness, they would probably be lonely everywhere on Earth. Not only that, but somehow New York eases their pain and helps them find each other, find them the way to tomorrow. And this is one of those things that are so often in Europe, a kind of love stories between director and his city, an ode and praise to it, something that American authors so rarely give us.The second feeling mutual to the characters (besides loneliness) is guilt. They all carry a burden of old mistakes on their conscience – even if they aren't really guilty (from our point of view). And their loneliness grows not only because this burden presses them too hard, not only because they are ashamed, but mostly because they are afraid to share it with anybody. And only learning to open their souls to another person – whoever it may be, the more unknown stranger the easier it can be done – can give them hope, a chance for redemption and leaving this guilt behind them. Sharing a burden reduces the pressure. And as we follow these people, we will see how some relations terminate because of total loss of communication, while others appear and develop once the shell softens.There are no breathtaking performances in the movie, but all the actors made a good job. Personally, I find Dominic Chianese a bit above the others, but it was a most interesting character so the role offered more chances, more challenges. The unobtrusive music was well aligned to beautiful photography, camera loved both the actors and the city.This movie gave us a picture of some other New York than we usually see, and a completely different picture of American movies than we are used to watch.

Watched it, enjoyed it, but...Adrift in Manhattan follows the lives of 3 main characters for a very brief period, each having a problem. They connect at some point in the movie, but it isn't clear why they connect or why it results in something, if it does at all. I really don't need to have everything layed out for me, but some clue as to what is happening would be nice.Spoiler: I only read here that their lives seem to connect cause of some subway line, or it is supposed to revolve around that. I never would have guessed that, so there is something pretty wrong with the movie. Actually i was wondering if some of them were living in the same building, or if it was all just coïncidental. Characters don't have a lot of lines so you get no information from there; no interesting dialogues. The acting is OK. Camera-work is OK, its all pretty OK and i didn't fall asleep, but I'm pretty sure a few weeks from now i won't remember what this movie was about at all. I don't even think i know what it's about now. (?!) If the object was to show coïncidence on peoples lives, Magnolia is by far superior to this one. If the object was to depict people dealing with huge personal problems i know a lot of movies that pass this one left and right. So i guess i don't get what this is about, what the object was, or they messed up.Something's adrift in Manhatten for sure, but what that is remains the question.

Though there have been many films of late that address the issues of the isolation of the individual in a society increasingly settling for homogeneity, few have the honesty and simplicity of presentation as Alfredo De Villa's ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN. Perhaps the reason this film works so well is that instead of dealing with the usual tropes, De Villa restricts his story to three individuals who are suffering isolation in the noise and autonomy of New York City and are thus 'adrift' in a life that seems flat and without a beacon of hope. The story De Villa weaves is one of interaction of these characters by almost serendipitous incidents, moments that change their lives - at least for a while.Teenager Simon Colon (Victor Rasuk) lives with his overbearing mother Marta (Marlene Forte) and gets through his life almost without speaking, working in a camera shop, spending his idle hours photographing people in the park. Tommaso Pensara (Dominic Chianese) is an elderly painter and music lover who lives alone and supports himself by being the 'mail boy' in a large firm: his loneliness is heightened when he discovers he has macular degeneration and will go blind. The physician who makes his diagnosis is Dr. Rose Phipps (Heather Graham) who is grieving from the recent death of her 2-year old child and is unable to continue her marriage to literature professor Mark Phipps (William Baldwin).The threads of coincidence begin to tie these people together when Simon begins to photograph Rose in a manner that resembles stalking, when Tommaso notices and desires and older lady at his workplace, Isabel Parades (Elizabeth Peña) and is encouraged by Dr Rose to share his potential blindness with this friend, and when Rose explores the attention Simon bestows on her, filling an emotional need for both parties. Naturally the development of these intersections is more complex but at the same time the manner in which they develop is very tender and gentle.Some viewers may find the film meandering a bit too much: this is not linear storytelling but rather shifts in incidents and moods and gradual changes that occur among these simple but needy people, much like the coincidences and random kindnesses occur to the sensitive eye. The cast is very fine and the cinematography and musical score sustain the mood of the piece. This film requires involvement on the part of the viewer, and that involvement has its rewards. Grady Harp