joe38_1998 I loved this movie. The feeling and pace was graceful, the cinematography and music wonderful. There's loneliness and loss here, but it's covered in a way that makes you just fall in love with the characters and care for them, hope they come through. For those that can identify with the vib of New York, the film is likely to be appreciated even more, as elements of the subway and streets come through realistically.This movie visits the lives of three different people, and how they coincidentally intermingle within the movie time line. The other characters in the movie add some color and background, and do well also.I've watched this movie multiple times and every time I come away satisfied, and more so: inspired. You can use this movie to better your life, to better your art. Strongly recommend watching it on a quiet, relaxing night.

charlytully Skimming through the nine comments previous to mine, they mostly seem to be from New Yorkers or New Yorker wannabes. If one does a general survey of this IMDb comments site, they will notice that comments coming from a film's location shoots tend to be disproportionately positive. Since New York City is notorious for attracting and harboring a coterie of people best described as self-centered navel-gazers who don't give a rap about the rest of the world, maybe it's not surprising they smugly go ga-ga over ANYTHING New York: Andy Warhol proved they'll even wax poetic over a 48-hour flick just showing paint drying, as long as it's set in New York.If this creepy movie had been shot here in Rosebush, with a mom flashing her bare tits at her 20-year-old socially crippled son, who then loses his innocence doing Rollergirl doggie-style while beating her butt and telling her she's a bad mom because her toddler fell out the window while she was on the phone, and next stumbles across Nasty Mom Number Two's blind patient lashing out angrily with his cane in a local transit hub, New York moviegoers would accuse our town of being an inbred backwoods hell-hole with nothing to offer the world culturally.For non-New Yorkers in search of something serious set in the Big Apple, go see DOUBT. For those wanting to see a well-done movie about intersecting lives, rent the Los Angeles-set SHORT CUTS. But if you want your skin to crawl watching a series of random amoral anti-erotic incidents happening to uniformly implausible characters, perhaps you also belong ADRIFT IN MANHATTAN.

gradyharp 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

estherchae The director's deftness in quietus and deep story telling was truly moving in this movie. I believed and was heart felt by all the character's love connections and especially the beautiful love story between older couple Tommaso and Isabel really killed me... The Oeudipal relationship the son has wih his mother was totally believable as well.It is a NY movie and thank god for it. That kind of intersecting of lives with a voyeurisitc view. In the Big City that never stops. To love, to die, to suffer, to think, to live. I am now totally obsessed with this Mexican American director Alfredo de Villa and look forward to this next movie. Just saw his other Sundnace movie Washington Heights and again the torn artist should was caputured beautifully and more importantly- wamrly. Vivre la indie film and excellent job!