THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING tells the interconnected stories of several New Yorkers who are searching for meaning in their lives. Troy (Matthew McConaughy), a promising attorney, puts his seemingly bright future at risk when he drives away from an accident. He injures Beatrice (Clea DuVall), a young cleaning woman, and her recovery from the accident severely tests her natural optimism and affects her friend Dorrie (Tia Texada). Tiring of the predictable routine of his life, university teacher Walter (John Turturro) buys Troy's car and starts a relationship with another teacher, Helen (Barbara Sukowa). Walter's wife, Patricia (Amy Irving), is left to deal with his infidelity, but she finds a rare moment of solace on the subway when a stranger waves at her. The stranger, Gene (Alan Arkin), a claims adjuster weighed down by his responsibilities, resents the incurable optimism of his coworker Wade (William Wise).

The connections between these people are sometimes small and trivial, and other times momentous. But they are woven together with great skill by the film's scriptwriters, sisters Jill and Karen Sprecher. Jill Sprecher also directed the large cast, amongst whom the standouts are Amy Irving and Alan Arkin. Arkin in particular, with his beautifully modulated performance, essentially provides the spine of the movie.

Theatrical Release: MAY 24, 2002

DVD Features:

Region 1
Keep Case
Widescreen
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Dolby Digital 2.0 - French
Additional Release Material:
Audio Commentary - 1. Jill Sprecher - Director
Trailers
Interactive Features:
Interactive Menus
Scene Selection

Matthew McConaughey: American actor, SAHARA, FOOL'S GOLD
John Turturro: American Actor/Director, BARTON FINK (1991)
Clea DuVall: American actress, GIRL, INTERRUPTED, HEROES
Amy Irving: American Actress, CARRIE (1976)
Alan Arkin: American Actor/Director
Barbara Sukowa: German Actress
Tia Texada: Actress
William Wise: Actor, THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING (2002)
Frankie R. Faison: American Supporting Actor
Shawn Elliott: Actor/"Impulse"

Jill Sprecher: 

Ben Atoori: Producer, 13 CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING (2002)
Gina Resnick: Executive Producer

Karen Sprecher: 
Jill Sprecher: 

Alex Wurman: 

Stephen Mirrione: Editor, GOOD NIGHT, AND GOOD LUCK (2005)

"...Sprecher is largely successful with the shifting time sequences, aided by editor Stephen Mirrione, and the movie's muted, subdued production design by Mark Ricker is attractive..."
"...Both straightforward and enigmatic: four fables of modern urban dissatisfaction woven into a fabric whose pattern is enchantingly elusive....THIRTEEN CONVERSATIONS is thrillingly smart..."
"...Tautly written, resolutely low-key, intricately constructed and very serious about the risky business of being alive....It has an overwhelming sense of reality atypical of the American cinema..."
"...Arkin is flat-out perfection....Sprecher reaches deep into the minds and hearts of her characters in a haunting and hypnotic film..."
"...A brilliant film..."
"...These CONVERSATIONS are the ultradeep kind..."
"...The actors make you care..."
"[With] an intricate narrative structure which traces four interconnected, interpenetrating storylines with an ingenious time-scheme that loops neatly back on itself..."
"Each of these strands has its grace notes..."