13 CONVERSATIONS ABOUT ONE THING

USA | 2001 | 35mm | 103 min.
Director: Jill Sprecher
Cast: Matthew McConaughey, John Turturro, Alan Arkin
A group of New Yorkers, including a lawyer (McConaughey), an insurance manager (Arkin), a house cleaner (Clea Duvall), and a physics professor (Turturro), seemingly have little in common. From car accidents to marital infidelity, thirteen vignettes track the surprising connections between this set of strangers, as the intricate story highlights the unpredictable ways that small actions can affect us. In the 2002 Wisconsin Film Festival guide, Mary Carbine praised the film’s “dazzling narrative architecture, superb acting and emotionally literate sensibility.” The film was directed by Jill Sprecher and co-written with her sister Karen Sprecher, both Madison natives and UW-Madison alumni. Print courtesy Wisconsin Center for Film and Theater Research. (MSJ)