Things You Can Tell Just by Looking at Her (DVD, 2001)

Rodrigo García's THINGS YOU CAN TELL JUST BY LOOKING AT HER is a wonderfully intelligent and deeply poignant series of interconnected vignettes that focus on the lives of strong, independent single women. In "This Is Dr. Keener," Glenn Close stars as a divorced doctor taking care of her elderly mother. A visit by a tarot card reader forces Keener to come to grips with her loneliness. In the marvelously perceptive "Fantasies About Rebecca," Holly Hunter is a bank manager on the verge of turning 40 who meets a disturbed homeless woman determined to share some harsh insights into Rebecca's life. Kathy Baker stars as Rose, a divorced mother raising a teenage son in "Someone for Rose"; when a little person moves into the house across the street, long-subdued sexual yearnings awaken in Rose. In "Good Night, Lilly, Good Night, Christine," Calista Flockhart is Christine, who is taking care of her dying girlfriend, reminiscing about their pasts, and worrying about the future. Finally, in "Love Waits for Kathy," Amy Brenneman plays a lonely single detective living with her blind sister, who begins reevaluating her life after finding a former classmate of hers dead from an apparent suicide. A terrific cast (which also includes Cameron Diaz, Valeria Golino, and Gregory Hines), a soft, evocative score, and a sharp, penetrating script help make García's directorial debut a shining success.