Release Details

Title: Intimate Stories

Release Date: 07/18/2006

Label/Distributor: New Yorker

Rating: NR (Not Rated)

Retail Price: $29.95

Cast: Intimate Stories

Running Time: 94

DVD Video Options: Closed-captioned, Color, Widescreen

DVD Audio Options: Spanish, Dubbed; English, Subtitled

UPC Code: 717119929640

Nothing is going to stop Maria, Don Justo or Roberto from reaching San Julián, where Maria has been promised fame, Roberto foresees love and Don Justo seeks redemption. But getting there is no small task. With her little baby in tow, Maria hops on the bus, nervous about the journey ahead, but unwilling to let her chance to star on the popular game show "Multicolored Casino" slip away. For Don Justo, the journey to reunite with his long-lost friend Badface promises to be even more challenging, as he hits the road, trusting that the truckers he’s met through the years will stop to offer him a lift. In Roberto’s case, getting to San Julián isn’t the problem - it’s getting there by surprise, with a heartwarming gift, in the hope of of making a favorable impression on his secret love. Although the three neighbors begin their journeys separately, they encounter their share of detours along the way on the deserted routes, and their stories and dreams crisscross in seemingly free-form patterns at the most remote stopping points. In the end, Maria, Don Justo and Roberto will get more or less what they set out for, but it will come to them in ways that they never expected.


Tipsheet Reviews
Foreign-Language Comedy

Intimate Stories

By Ed Hulse 6/12/2006

Story Line: The town of San Julian offers something different to three travelers: Roberto (Javier Lombardo) hopes to make an impression on his secret love, a prepossessing widow; Don Justo (Antonio Benedicti), trying to reunite with his long-lost dog, hopes the animal will forgive him; and young mother Maria (Javiera Bravo) seeks fame and fortune as a game show contestant.

Bottom Line: This movie's greatest strength as a work of art is its primary weakness as a commercial attraction. The general plot is so minor and the individual incidents so trivial that some viewers are bound to wonder why they are investing 94 minutes of their time on this film. A lost dog and the delivery of a cream pie are not exactly the stuff of compelling stories. And yet, director Sorin weaves from these flimsy threads an altogether beguiling little movie that's warm, gentle and perceptive. Intimate Stories bespeaks a rare knowledge of human nature, and its deliberate avoidance of profound or important themes adds to its charm. Sorin makes this simple road movie interesting by separating the principal characters and having their paths intersect unexpectedly while on the journey. It's a clever bit of narrative footwork that deserves more attention than the film will probably receive, but New Yorker's core audience will eat it up.

Color, NR (nothing offensive), 94 min., DVD $29.95, VHS $24.95, Spanish with English subtitles
DVD: featurette
Street: July 13, Prebook June 21
First Run: L, March 2005, <$1 mil
Director: Carlos Sorin
NEW YORKER

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