Shopgirl - 7

This film is based on the novella by Steve Martin. It is a simple film. It is about human connection, the human need for love. The story follows Mirabelle (Claire Danes) as she chooses between an older man, Ray (Steve Martin), who cannot commit and a quirky artist (Jason Schwartzman) who longs for connection and love as much as Mirabelle. The key scene in the film is what Ray says after he has admitted that he has cheated on Mirabelle, "The worst part about it...is that I thought it wouldn't matter." The film gets at how our commitments are deep in us, and that sometimes we only recognize them when we fail, when we feel the pain of our own decisions and their consequences. The dialogue is both awkward, in a good way, and honest, and very well written. The film plot moves like an indie film, but the scenes are very crisp (not that indie films can't be, they just tend not to be).