Personal Velocity: Three Portraits

Name: Personal Velocity: Three Portraits
Genre: Drama
Released: November 22, 2002
Duration: 86 min
Rating: 70
Cast: Fairuza Balk, Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey

2002

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Generally favorable reviews based on 28 Critic Reviews

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Generally favorable reviews based on 5 Ratings

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6.2	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 5 Ratings

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Personal Velocity

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Movie Details & Credits

United Artists | Release Date: November 22, 2002 | R

Starring: Fairuza Balk, Kyra Sedgwick, Parker Posey

Summary: Based on Rebecca Miller's acclaimed book of short stories, this film tells three tales of women who have reached a turning point in their lives.

Director: Rebecca Miller

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 86 min

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Critic Reviews

100

David Sterritt

Miller shows terrific talent as a director with a sharp eye for images, a keen ear for dialogue, and a refreshing willingness to take storytelling risks. Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

Everything and everyone is observed sharply, succinctly and indelibly.

Dennis Harvey

Impresses with the originality of its observation, storytelling techniques and filmmaking style. Read full review

Kim Morgan

It's not afraid to be funny, tragic and decidedly female.

Mark Caro

The movie's title refers to a comment about how people grow at their own rates. Miller's movie has its moments of impressive velocity, but it never quite takes off. Read full review

Jeff Stark

The thing I took away from that opening was that it was small, and looked beautiful. There was some technique and a little confusion. It didn't seem to have a conflict all plotted out and neatly resolved. The thing I didn't like is that the rest of the movie did. Read full review

Scott Tobias

Taken together, the stories are a watershed of feminist clichés, composed of half-hour sections that are too tidy by half, and overlaid with writerly voiceovers that suggest an author too enamored of her own narration. But one salvageable piece emerges in the middle: a sharp and acerbically funny segment that seems written specifically for Parker Posey. Read full review

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KenR

Apr 22, 2020

Rebecca Miller’s second feature movie is just what you would expect to win awards at Sundance and similar festivals. Others can expect to sit through very roughly sketched plotlines - in this case, it’s three rather shallow stories about women that don’t particularly link up well or offerRebecca Miller’s second feature movie is just what you would expect to win awards at Sundance and similar festivals. Others can expect to sit through very roughly sketched plotlines - in this case, it’s three rather shallow stories about women that don’t particularly link up well or offer any satisfactory resolutions. The photography by Ellen Kuras consists of some shaky (cheap and trendy) video handheld shots, mostly taken with the zoom lens on extreme tight --producing a nauseating wobble cam-- with the operator attempting to frame the subject within a rocky, sea-sick making image. The ugly, sensationalistic situations and course dialogue are mostly drawn from the perspective of disenfranchised immature females. Some of the title characters prefer to live out female fantasies with all takers (even when in successful relationships of their own making)...actions that predictably lead to utter chaos. All these women are quite unbelievably devoid of the ability to learn from any obvious life experiences or moral sensibilities.

It’s difficult to fully sympathise with these somewhat sordid characters or feel all that much empathy for their all too obvious and inevitable outcomes. Performances are OK with Michael Rohatyn supplying a cute minimalist main theme. Rebecca’s Dad, Arthur Miller, may have been a notable and worthy writer but that’s clearly not always guaranteed to transfer to the offspring. As an example of the ‘deep’ and arty writing, consider this line read by the stories narrator: “She felt the ambition drain out of her like pus from a lanced boil”... Strictly for undemanding viewers or the ‘types’ we see introducing movies on Foxtel, etc. Others may give up within the first 15 mins and be better off for doing so.… Expand

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