Six Degrees of Separation (1993)

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's funny, it's tense, it features two great performances from two actors and the director expertly creates a web of odd tension where you actually don't know what is happening for the majority of the run time.

This is a small, humorous movie in some ways, but it has a huge heart. What a nice experience.

I have been wanting to see Six Degrees of Separation for quite while and finally found a copy on DVD. Well, this was a tough one for me, but I liked it. The direction is superb, the acting is superb so I must give it top notch marks in those categories. Will Smith really was fantastic in his early role. The problem I found with this film was that it was a stage play adopted for film. For me, stage plays are stage plays for a reason and films are films for a reason. I found the dialogue way over the top. People simply don't speak like that - not even rich people. For some reason writers always think rich people speak super correctly and discuss philosophy. The truth is, because of my job I meet a lot of rich people and they don't act or speak like that at all. The scene where they where at the wedding telling the story was also over the top. They start telling the story to three or four people and by the end more than a dozen have gathered to listen to these people. It simply wouldn't happen. For some reason this really strikes me as a Woody Allen type of film with the same type of characters, dialogue and New York setting. But, I must say,, it is still superb.

from production design by Patrizia von Brandenstein to direction from Fred Schepisi to the last performance of Kitty Carlisle Hart as a doyenne hostess, really first rate. Also first on screen appearance I think, for Heather Graham and Eric Thal, two kids from Utah. As for the back of the head kiss between lead Will Smith and the brat pack's Anthony Michael Hall, it came out this week that Denzel Washington advised Smith not to kiss Hall but frankly, I didn't miss it. Nice cameos from Sir Ian McKellen, Richard Masur, the always wonderful Mary Beth Hurt and Bruce Davison. It mostly takes place in a penthouse overlooking Central Park so that's why I love it so, that and a score that really gets under your skin. Stockard Channing will want to forget some of the 80s outfits but all in all, I could watch this one anytime. Watch for future director JJ Abrams as a bratty dorm phone thrower.

Occupy Wall Street might use this film for fund raisers. It presents the livIng hell of being rich and shallow, and it gives me the creeps much more today than it did when I first saw it. There are some interesting references that date it. For example, the Rainbow Room ejects Will Smith for dancing the tango with a male friend, an act which no such NYC establishment would likely do today. Along those lines, Michael Anthony Hall hands in a very courageous performance as the gay kid who falls for Will and sets his antics in motion. I remember how sensational that kiss between them seemed at the time. Will's character has universal appeal. He is the ultimate con man and hustler, but he is so successful because he is charming. Maybe if rich people today would allow themselves to fall for what is charming, they would delight in helping the struggling people of the world today rather than worrying so much about selling their Kandinskys. Stockard Channing turns in one of the great film performances of the century, showing how a One-Percenter can experience a spiritual epiphany. In this sense, Guare is a modern Dickens, deserving of all the accolades he received for this script and screen play, which reminds us that we are six degrees of separation not only from Kevin Bacon but of every kid in Zuccotti Park or Tahrir Square. "How much of your life can you account for?" With tears in her eyes, Stockard Channing asks Donald Sutherland this question with the same direness in her voice that Jesus must have had when he addressed the rich guys in the Holy Land.

During the days of The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, and just before getting the big break in Bad Boys, this was probably when the film industry really took notice of the up and coming black American star, from director Fred Schepisi (Roxanne, Fierce Creatures). Basically the Kitteredges, Louisa 'Ouisa' (Grease's Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Stockard Channing) and John Flanders 'Flan' (Donald Sutherland) are rich art dealers in New York. They are ready to make a big deal with South African friend and client Geoffrey Miller (Sir Ian McKellen), when they are interrupted by a young black man named Paul (Will Smith) coming into their fancy apartment. He says he was robbed in Central Park, and after they help aid his wound, he starts telling them about himself, claiming to be a friend of their son and daughter in Harvard. Secretly though, we see from some flashbacks, he has practised everything he is going to say to Ouisa and Flan, and how to say it, and they believe every word, even his claim to be the son of Sidney Poitier. Paul does absolutely everything to charm the couple, and Geoffrey as well, including making a home cooked dinner, and they kindly invite him to stay the night, while Geoffrey has been tempted to go through with the deal with Flan. The next morning however Ouisa and Flan find out that Paul is not everything he claims to be, when they find him making love to a man, and they are sure he was fibbing about much more than that. The Kitteredges try to investigate Paul further, and along the way they realise that they are not the only ones to be almost conned by this very talkative and very clever black kid on the block. After many revolutions about Paul, and people saying that Paul did do some good for their lives in some way or another, Paul calls Ouisa and Flan at home to make his confessions, they did try to see things from his side, but in the end there can only be tragedy. Also starring Mary Beth Hurt as Kitty, Bruce Davison as Larkin, Richard Masur as Dr. Fine, The Breakfast Club's Anthony Michael Hall as Trent Conway, Heather Graham as Elizabeth, Eric Thal as Rick and Lost creator J.J. Abrams as Doug. The title, also called the "Human Web" relates to the idea that everyone is at most six steps away from any other person on Earth, so that a chain of, "a friend of a friend" statements can be made to connect any two people in six steps or fewer. Anyway, Smith is the driving force of this film, he is perfect in his role as the supposedly knowledgeable con, Channing is also good as the wife in the con, and Sutherland does alright as her husband. It's a film that makes you think about how you know and find out about people in your lives, and it is a likable drama. Good!