Search - This Space Between Us on DVD

A few good moments, but much mediocrity

Thomas M. Sipos | Santa Monica, CA | 11/09/2006

(2 out of 5 stars)

"An anguished, twentysomething filmmaker, mourning the loss of his wife, leaves L.A. to find himself. Or something.

So he travels to his hometown of San Francisco, where he reconnects with old friends and enemies. There he remains true to himself while he wryly observes all the phonies and neurotics, finally meeting a deep and sincere woman with whom he can begin to heal over the loss of his wife.

This is a typical indie film, in the sense that its satirical targets are all so old. Phony literary parties with their pretentious poetry readings (one scene bears a striking resemblance to the literary party in Parker Posey's THE DAYTRIPPERS); shallow artsy types; crude Hollywood studio suits (shades of SWIMMING WITH SHARKS or THE BIG PICTURE, take your pick). Indeed, the whole trip north to San Francisco evokes SIDEWAYS (although this film predates SIDEWAYS).

However, this film in no way matches the quality of THE DAYTRIPPERS or SIDEWAYS or even THE BIG PICTURE. Many quirky scenes, but the characters aren't engaging enough. That, plus the sense that we've seen all these character types and their situations many times before, makes for a rather boring experience.

There are a few strong scenes. The opening with the studio executive is funny . Even so, the executive, and especially the agent, are very broadly drawn caricatures, which is not true of all the characters, giving this film an uneven feel. What's worse, this film meanders, like SIDEWAYS, but it doesn't meander anyplace especially interesting. So I was bored.

Vanessa Marcil's scenes as the dead wife were poignant (I wish she did more film work), but her scenes are brief, hardly enough to save this film."

I loved it!

Kimber | San Luis Obispo | 06/16/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I like stuff like this better than what is at the movies right now. I really enjoy Jeremy Sisto's work, and he does not disappoint here, as a film maker from LA who drives back to his home turf of the bay area to try to get his head together. Two years following his wife's death, Alex Harty is unable to get on with life. He wants to let go of the sadness but is afraid he will lose something. The memory of his wife? The love he had for his wife? His sense of identity? It's a very interesting character study that might hit home with anyone who has lost someone they loved and clings to things that are no longer there because of a fear you cannot even describe to yourself. One day, Alex hits a point where he is tired of being sad all of the time, tired of missing his wife, thus he gets into his car in an effort to try to "run away" from himself and from his sadness, once and for all. However, when he gets to San Francisco, he finds that his friends are not going to allow him to do that. Without spooning him the solution, Alex's friends show him how to "live" again.

It may be just a low budget indie and some find that boring. Some people find regular life boring and movies without action boring. I could not help but love every minute of this funny and very moving comedy."