The Five Senses

When Krzysztof Kieslowski structured films around such paradigms as the Ten Commandments and the rouge-blanc-et-bleu of the French flag, the result was some of the greatest cinema ever. When earnest Canadian director Jeremy Podeswa tries the same with the title faculties in The Five Senses, the result is like an especially ambitious high school senior project.

Leaden irony abounds. Ruth (Gabrielle Rose), for example, is a massage therapist who's "out of touch" with her troubled teenage daughter. Their neighbor Rona (Mary Louise Parker), a baker, makes cakes that are a feast for the eye but taste like crap, and that's where her new Italian lover, Roberto (Marco Leonardi), comes in -- he's a hunk and a gourmet. Rona's best friend, gay stereotype Robert (Daniel MacIvor), has a keen sense of smell -- he claims his nose knows when someone's in love. And finally, Richard (Philippe Volter), whose office is near Ruth's, is an eye doctor who's losing his hearing. Throw in a missing child, some arty photography, and some contrived connections and near-misses and out pops the kind of pretentious piffle that gives independent cinema a bad name. For a start, Podeswa might work on developing what's most absent from this effort: a sense of humor. At the Cable Car Cinena.
-- Peter Keough