accessAtlanta

'November': Clever ideas, not always well executed

By MELINDA ENNIS
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

"Memento" meets "The Sixth Sense" in "November," the latest in the fad of multilayered, brain-teasing thrillers. But despite some cool camera work and an intriguing concept, it's a bit like putting a complex jigsaw puzzle together and then finding a few pieces missing.

The story opens as Sophie (Courteney Cox) drives with her boyfriend (James LeGros) down a dark city street. Complaining that she is still hungry (naturally, they've just eaten Chinese), she convinces him to stop at a convenience store for some chocolate. The boyfriend goes inside and while he's there a brutal robbery and shooting occur.

Sony Pictures Classics

'November'

B-

The verdict: An enigmatic, stylish tease that never quite lives up to its intriguing promise.

Director: Greg Harrison
Starring: Courteney Cox-Arquette, Matthew Carey, Brittany Ishibashi, Nick Offerman, Amir Talai
Run time: 88 minutes
Release date: July 22, 2005
Rating: R for strong language and sexual situations.
See showtimes

On the web
Official movie site
View the trailer
Trailers require Quicktime

What happens in the store is re-enacted three different ways in sections of the film named for the stages of grief made famous by author Elisabeth Kubler-Ross — denial, despair and acceptance.

In the first version, the boyfriend is killed and Sophie struggles with the guilt brought on, ostensibly by the chocolate craving that led to his fate. Her real angst is over an affair she'd been having, and the fact that she was on her cellphone with her lover while her boyfriend was being shot.

In each scenario, she goes to a psychiatrist (Nora Dunn), either to talk about her guilt or the affair. For some reason, in two of the versions the elevator to get there is broken and she has to walk up a gloomy flight of stairs. Is this a metaphor for her inward trudge to the truth? Or just a red herring amid other clues? We never know, just as we never know enough about Sophie to make us truly care.

Playing a photography instructor, Cox wears glasses and greasy hair to signify she's just a regular gal. Well, you can take the girl from "Friends," but you can't take Monica out of the girl. The whiny persona of that character pushes through and makes you feel that if she just called Chandler or Ross she could get out of this mess.

In each scenario, Sophie has a meeting with her mother (Anne Archer, first-rate) who, in different versions, is either critical and superficial, or supportive and loving.

There is a constant repetition of certain scenes, which ends up as an annoying diversion. Still, there is much promise here from the young director, Greg Harrison, whose only other credit is "Groove."

He shot the film on digital video, which gives it a convincingly gritty look, especially in the convenience store scenes. He also uses color and lighting to give each scenario its own mood and tone. The film moves from an ominous, murky blue in "Denial" to a sunny yellow for "Acceptance," which is also the most compelling and successfully executed version of the story. If the final outcome is somewhat expected, it's also effectively cinematic.