Rebecca Miller, the writer and director of her second film "Personal Velocity: Three Portraits," does not have an easy path to follow. This is because that path has been previously paved by her famous (and oft-infamous) father, legendary playwright Arthur Miller. Following her first critically acclaimed but underexposed film, "Angela," Miller returns with "Velocity." Adapted from her own book, Miller's indie film found itself on the fast-lane to major distribution, fueled by the purest form of advertising octane -- good word of mouth. \n Capturing critics at the Toronto Film Festival, "Velocity" soon felt Sundance shine upon it by garnering the coveted Grand Jury Prize. To the disdain of film purists, "Velocity," being entirely filmed on DV and blown-up to 35mm, was also awarded Best Cinematography at Sundance.\n"Velocity"'s three vignettes display an under-appreciated talent by Miller, creating rich characters developed at light-speed. When the majority of movies can't create a single believable character in two hours, coming in at 85 minimalist minutes, Miller delivers three human beings we get to know and care for. "Delia"' the first segment, tells the story of a woman whose love is deeper than the bruises left by her abusive husband. But when the violence begins to bleed into the lives of her children, she knows they must escape. The second section, "Greta," involves a New York City editor who is coming to the cutting conclusion that her husband's unflinching fidelity feels devoid of passion, and she growing bored. The final, and arguably most poignant act, "Paula," gives us a woman who has picked up a hitchhiker after escaping a freak accident. The hitchhiker's hidden secrets will take Paula on her own personal journey, one of reawakening and the chance of redemption.\nThe one criticism I have with Miller's film is a major one, one that brings "Personal Velocity" to an impersonal screeching halt at times. The voice-over narration, sounding directly dictated from the book, should be entirely cut from the film. Riveted with sloppy poetic abstraction, it completely cancels out the sole purpose of a visual medium: to convey the ideas of the abstract through the details of its characters. Miller, for the majority of the film, does a beautiful job of this, leaving the excess narration utterly ignorable at best and heavy-handed at its worse.
-Isaac Edwards\nRating: Medal
