Vultural ~ French fluff about the so-called butterfly effect. Myriad of soul connect, intersect, disconnect. Well worn myth of how a chance act or word can impact others. Yes, we think our words or deeds are so important. This film flits from one loser to another, eventually going nowhere.I didn't buy the reactions and interactions, though everyone with me were female, and they did. In fact, there was a protracted discussion afterward. For me, Life is random, our choices limited at best. Everyone else, held that there is FATE and we have choices. If you are in the latter category, you will rate this higher. Unforgettable scene involving a cockroach.

three-m A missed train. A wrong phone number. An extra cup of coffee. What happens to those around you when you make a seemingly innocuous decision? Most people don't give it a thought as they absorbed in their own thoughts and actions."Happenstance" tells the story of the interrelations and cause-and-effect of the mundane as it pertains to a group of normal Parisian folk. It has all the components of what passes for contemporary theater, with the full cast of the dysfunctional and disillusioned.There's a cheating husband, an illegal immigrant, a classic slacker, a pickpocket, a crazy grandmother, an annoying girlfriend, a selfish roommate, and a homeless man. Audrey Tautou serves as the erstwhile protagonist (in the sense that she's on camera as much as anyone else and opens and closes the film) and normal girl who just can't seem to find the right rhythm in her life.She learns at the beginning of her day from a stranger on a train what her horoscope holds for her. What happens to her in the course of the day is told through various characters. Does the prediction come true? The concept is good, but the storytelling is flimsy. The connections from one event to the next are weak. There's better storytelling in 15 seconds of the Liberty Mutual insurance commercial where one person sees a good deed and passes it along to another than there is in two hours of Happenstance.If you enjoy Audrey Tautou, then you certainly can sacrifice the time for this film, but you'll finish it dissatisfied and wondering what this same storyline could be if it were handled by a better producer and director.

ncarmadilloman The first time I saw this film I wasn't entirely overwhelmed, but I did like it well enough to watch it again almost immediately. Thank goodness for that, because I've probably seen it four times now and each time I seem to see what translates to an almost entirely different movie. From numerous observations, my single most unexpected discovery is the fact that, along with the primary cast members, every single secondary character interacts in a minimum of two of the multiple, and seemingly unrelated, situations that are taking place.In terms of a film with a story line that's nearly impossible to absorb in one sitting, I compare this to the 1985 flick "After Hours", which was directed by Martin Scorsese and is still one of my all time favorite comedies. Don't misunderstand though, while "Happenstance" is successfully comedic, romantic and dramatic, its primary function is based on the uncharacteristic cinematic element of coincidence. Oddly enough, on an initial basis, coincidence may be its most difficult trait to fully distinguish.Hats off to those of you who were able too fully grasp the entire scope of intricate relationships and interconnecting roles of these characters in only one viewing session. However, if you've only seen it once I tend to believe that, like my first impression, you simply aren't aware of the degree to which they exist.This may explain, at least in part, some of the commentary I've read that sum this up as a pretentious version of a poor man's "Amélie", (not the first of actress Audrey Tautou's more recent works to be accused of this). First of all, I'm still not exactly sure how to define the term pretentious in relation to a movie. Secondly, while subtle similarities do exist between these two films, they are far exceeded by their differences. Unfortunately, comparisons to her role as Amélie may be an unfair curse that haunts Tautou until she's completely successful in making a distinctive mark in other areas, as she began to do in the 2002 film "Dirty Pretty Things".In my opinion, this is an all around success for writer & director, Laurent Firode's. The script is filled with creative energy and his directorial effort was enhanced greatly by a superb cast. Just remember, it's a very rewarding experience when you, yourself, learn to make an educated hypothesis to determine the movies that you're most likely to enjoy. From there, it's up to you to decide, without relying on the feedback and criticism of others, whether or not you really liked it.

ThurstonHunger An admirable attempt that winds up about as charming and magical as calculating a checksum. Still to create a "love story" wherein the main characters never speak to each other was an interesting feat. Ultimately I got the sense that the director didn't want us to attach to any one character too much for fear that we would lose track of the plight and the path of the cosmic pinball connecting them all.Other films have traced the vagaries of existence, I'll never forget "Slacker" and its camera-as-transmittable-disease approach. That film, and others had characters that drew you in with more than a powerful pout and a pop star. Also the idiots in that film were more reckless than wretched. Here we have some despicable folks...One of them is, pardon my (lack of) french, a dick. Indeed that is how he is introduced to us, full frontal and head on. We've also got a heartless mother, a selfish roommate, a compassionless store clerk, a petty thief and a liar. Well at least the liar does have a bit of reckoning, and provides some humor along the way. At various points in the film, popular methods of charting the fates are engaged. A horoscope, tarot cards, a palm reading, a strange scrambling of the letters of a name, I don't think there were any tea leaves to be read. These methods are generally dismissed, but the intricate criss-crossing of the crasser crowd does help to guide our stars towards a more star-crossed pairing. Will they meet or miss by the width of a butterfly's wing??More importantly, will the audience care? At the end of the film, I found myself more intrigued by a bald character who we meet during another game of chance in a park (when "le penis" stakes his actions to the toss of a pebble). His bald comments and clear voicing of intention make him stand out like a lucid dream.What the hell is he doing? Is his act of volition meant to taunt us, the invisible voyeurs in every scene? Or is he god...not playing dice with the universe, but loading the pebble? I'm afraid I'm making this film seem more interesting than it was...the battle of will versus fate versus karma versus various crystal balls, like the depth of the characters never quite gets to the foreground.But perhaps by my not enjoying this film so much, I will not tip as much the next time I go out to eat, so your roommate will come home in a crabby mood, so you'll not go out to the Bottom of the Hill together, instead you'll rent a movie from the bald incarnation of Zeus at your local video store who *intentionally* will slip this DVD into the "Slacker" box you thought you were going to rent.And you'll love it...But in case that doesn't happen...5/10