Search - Playing By Heart on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Adult Situations, Profanity, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1998 DVD Release: 08/17/1999 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV Audio Tracks: English Subtitles: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 1 mins Studio: Miramax Members Wishing: 12 Genres: Drama, Romantic Drama, Ensemble Film, Slice of Life

Sophomore writer/director Willard Carroll weaves together an all-star cast in interlocking stories about finding love in Los Angeles. The film's theme is spoken by young club-hopper Joan (Angelina Jolie). Taken by the mysterious Keenan (Ryan Phillippe), she tells him that "talking about love" is like "dancing about architecture" (the original title until the studio thought it would be confused with Dancing at Lughnasa), meaning speech is not the medium to adequately express the details of love. They all try, anyway. Others up for the dance include a TV cooking-show hostess (Gena Rowlands) and her husband (Sean Connery) who still fight over his one brief infidelity 25 years earlier; two lovers (Madeline Stowe, Anthony Edwards) who discuss their unhappy marriages; and a theater director (Gillian Anderson) and her architect, Mr. Right (Jon Stewart). Also searching are Dennis Quaid, Nastassja Kinski and Patricia Clarkson. For a familial sort of love, there's Ellen Burstyn as the estranged mother to her son (Jay Mohr) dying of AIDS. ~ Ron Wells, All Movie Guide

Gillian Anderson - Meredith
Angelina Jolie - Joan
Madeleine Stowe - Gracie
Jon Stewart - Trent
Jay Mohr - Mark
Ryan Phillippe - Kenan
Gena Rowlands - Hanna
Dennis Quaid - Hugh
Anthony Edwards
Sean Connery - Paul
Ellen Burstyn

Playing by Heart may be the most basic DVD viewers will ever find. The package includes no commentary, behind-the-scenes footage, actor bios (which, admittedly, would have been a huge task with this cast), or even a theatrical trailer. The only extra features are English closed-captioning and a section titled "Recommendations," which simply displays the posters of six other Miramax films. The picture, with a 2.20:1 aspect ratio, and the Dolby Digital sound are both of the quality one expects from DVD -- not that this dialogue-heavy film pushes that quality to the limit. The main advantage this DVD holds over VHS is its well-divided chapter selection. With 43 chapters, including the credits, viewers have the option of watching the film's many story lines one at a time. ~ Jeff Alexander, All Movie Guide