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Best Indies - Movie 3 - Sex, Lies, and Videotape

What it is about - The title almost gives out its premise. It's about sex and lies. Videotape plays a major role in the film.
Story & Structure - The flow of the film is too smooth. Nowhere it feels like a constructed screenplay. Like any other story, this too has its fair share of coincidences but the brilliant craft subverts it. The conflict of this story is with themselves and with their partners.
4 major characters - Husband(John), Wife(Ann), Husband's friend(Graham), Wife's sister(Cynthia). Graham's ex Elizabeth is another character who comes in suggestion. A psychiatrist shares good screentime who helps the audience to understand Ann's thinking. The story forgets to resolve the psychiatrist and Ann's relation. The story works fine without that because it had no emotional hook, it was a tool to reveal Ann.
I remember the names of every character because they all have strong and unique traits. The great driver of this story is the ego game between the sisters. They both have a great impact on each other's lives, in a destructive way. Ann is a conservative and Cynthia is a liberal and they both end up in center which is the major arc of the story.
Making - There's no swag or particular style for this film. Even though it is an emotional story, there's no melodrama in it. The filmmaker doesn't show people crying even in the intense moments. The characters act strange in the next scene which justifies their pain. The duration of the movie is less as they need not dedicate a scene to make us feel what character is feeling.
THIS IS AN IMPORTANT LESSON. I NEED NOT DEDICATE A SCENE TO SHOW WHAT CHARACTER IS GOING THROUGH. IT WILL BE DERIVED BY THE AUDIENCE AUTOMATICALLY
Engagement Level - It's not a very gripping story but anybody who likes to see such subjects and has some patience can sit and watch it. 
Things that stood out - The greatness of this film is in performances. Andie Macdowell's performance is great. James Spader who played Graham has a special charm and grabs our eyes. All 4 characters justified their roles. We should credit the well-written characters that are visible throughout the film

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