![\"tf-Troy\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/tf-Troy.jpg\")
<\/p>\nI knew almost nothing about this going in it, an ignorance I’m trying to maintain for these challenge films as much as possible. Turns out it’s an ensemble piece with interlocking stories, a narrative structure that I pretty nearly always enjoy, and this was no exception.<\/p>\n
The major stories follow Troy (Matthew McConaughey), a cocky lawyer whose confidence is shaken when he runs over a woman with his car, Beatrice (Clea Duvall), the young woman he hits who goes through a crisis of her own in recovery, Gene (Alan Arkin), an insurance manager dealing with a delinquent son and an overly cheerful coworker, and Walker (John Turturro), a physics professor going through a midlife crisis and a failing marriage.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
I love seeing how disparate stories interconnect with each other in movies like this, and one minor thing I really enjoyed about this one was that you eventually discover that not all the stories are concurrent – when we first see Gene chatting with Troy at a bar, he tells him about something that we won’t actually see happen until later in the movie. It’s a fun variation on the template that Gene’s story is actually a flashback.<\/p>\n
The “one thing” of the title is basically happiness – very few of the people in the film have it, some desperately want it, some have it and then lose it. Most of the film is conversation, as various characters negotiate their situation, try to figure out how they got into it, and how to make the best of it – or else fall into despair. Not all the stories are as interesting as the others – I like Clea Duvall and was pleased to see her here, but her story was fairly forgettable to me. Troy’s was mostly depressing. I liked Gene’s story the best, and not insignificantly, Alan Arkin is also very watchable and very funny, with a dry humor that does actually fit the downbeat tone of the film.<\/p>\n
![\"tf-Patricia\"](\"http:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/tf-Patricia.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
I enjoyed the philosophising, the acting, and the narrative structure, but I think ultimately all the stories had a bit too much dreariness for me to truly love the film.<\/p>\n
2001, USA<\/em> I’m ranking all my Challenge films on Flickchart (as I do all the films I see), a movie-ranking website that asks you to choose your favorite between two movies until it builds a ranked list of your favorites. Just for fun, I will average out the rankings and keep a running tally of whose recommendations rank the highest. When you add a film to Flickchart, it pits it against films already on your chart to see where it should fall. Here’s how Thirteen Conversations About One thing<\/em> entered my chart:<\/p>\n Thirteen Conversations About One Thing<\/b> > Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey Final ranking #1122 out of 3617 films on my chart (69%)<\/p>\n It is now my #1 Jill Sprecher film, my #4 Matthew McConaughey film, my #5 Alan Arkin film, my #5 John Turturro film, my #26 Urban Drama, and my #19 film of 2001.<\/p>\n Thirteen Conversations About One Thing<\/em> was recommended by Andy Nelson, a friend from the Flickcharters group on Facebook.<\/p>\n Patricia:<\/b> What is it that you want? Gene:<\/b> Show me a happy man, I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll show you a disaster waiting to happen.<\/p>\n Troy:<\/b> Luck is a lazy man\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s excuse. Walker:<\/b> Why do you want to be a doctor? I knew almost nothing about this going in it, an ignorance I’m trying to maintain for these challenge films as much as possible. Turns out it’s an ensemble piece with interlocking stories, a narrative structure that I pretty nearly always enjoy, and this was no exception. The major stories follow Troy (Matthew McConaughey), a cocky […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":35866,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3027],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/05\/tf-feat.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":36494,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-43-true-stories\/","url_meta":{"origin":35861,"position":0},"title":"Challenge Week 43: True Stories","author":"Jandy","date":"November 17, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"When Steve gave me this film to watch, he said I'd either love it or hate it. When a film is pitched to me like that, it's actually pretty common for me to be somewhere in the middle on it, which I guess is weird. Anyway, that particular maxim holds\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-feat-true_stories.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36498,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/11\/challenge-week-45-triangle\/","url_meta":{"origin":35861,"position":1},"title":"Challenge Week 45: Triangle","author":"Jandy","date":"November 27, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I can't talk TOO much about this without spoiling it - in this case, it's very much recommended to go in totally blind, which I did, aside from knowing that it was something of a mindbender and had some horror and possibly sci-fi elements. It all hinges on a young\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/tf-feat-triangle.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36282,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/09\/challenge-week-34-woman-in-the-dunes\/","url_meta":{"origin":35861,"position":2},"title":"Challenge Week 34: Woman in the Dunes","author":"Jandy","date":"September 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"What a strange movie. An entomologist studying insects in the desert finds that he's missed the last bus home and asks if there's a place to stay in a nearby village. There is: with a woman who lives in a hole in a sand dune. She feeds him and gives\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/98472_full.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/98472_full.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/09\/98472_full.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":35561,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/challenge-week-7-come-and-get-it\/","url_meta":{"origin":35861,"position":3},"title":"Challenge Week 7: Come and Get It","author":"Jandy","date":"February 21, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"My knowledge of this one going in was limited to the fact that Walter Brennan won the very first Best Supporting Actor Oscar for it - thank you, high school-era Oscar obsession! When I realized it was based on an Edna Ferber novel, I had a bit more idea what\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/tf-feat-come-and-get-it.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":36629,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2016\/12\/challenge-week-49-love-comes-softly\/","url_meta":{"origin":35861,"position":4},"title":"Challenge Week 49: Love Comes Softly","author":"Jandy","date":"December 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"I tend not to seek out Hallmark-type movies, but when on vacation with my cousins this year, they heard about my challenge and wanted to give me some movies, and this is what my cousin's teenage daughter assigned me. I'm game for anything! The pioneer setting helps a lot, as\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2016 Movie Challenge"","block_context":{"text":"2016 Movie Challenge","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/2016-movie-challenge\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/tf-feat-lovecomessoftly.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25305,"url":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/2011\/07\/50dmc-17-funniest-movie-3\/","url_meta":{"origin":35861,"position":5},"title":"50DMC #17: Funniest Movie","author":"Jandy","date":"July 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The 50 Day Movie Challenge asks one question every day, to be answered by a few paragraphs and a clip, if possible. Click here for the full list of questions. Today's prompt: What's the funniest movie you've ever seen? There are so many possible answers to this question, but I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/category\/film\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/07\/wpid-Photo-Jul-22-2011-728-PM.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35861"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35866"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.the-frame.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\ndirected by Jill Sprecher, written by Jill and Karen Sprecher<\/em>
\nstarring Matthew McConaughey, Alan Arkin, John Turturro, Clea Duvall<\/em><\/p>\n
\nThirteen Conversations About One Thing < The Great Gatsby<\/b> (2013)
\nThirteen Conversations About One Thing<\/b> > My Man Godfrey (1936)
\nThirteen Conversations About One Thing<\/b> > Under the Skin
\nThirteen Conversations About One Thing < Christmas in July<\/b>
\nThirteen Conversations About One Thing < High Fidelity<\/b>
\nThirteen Conversations About One Thing < The Art of Skiing<\/b>
\nThirteen Conversations About One Thing < The Last Temptation of Christ<\/b>
\nThirteen Conversations About One Thing<\/b> > A Grand Day Out
\nThirteen Conversations About One Thing < 49 Up<\/b>
\nThirteen Conversations About One Thing < Dr. No<\/b>
\nThirteen Conversations About One Thing < Way Down East<\/b><\/p>\n A few quotes…<\/h3>\n
\nWalker:<\/b> What everyone wants. To experience life. To wake up enthused. To be happy.<\/p>\n
\nGene:<\/b> Sounds like a guy who\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s had nothing but luck.<\/p>\n
\nStudent:<\/b> So I can help people.
\nWalker:<\/b> Why? Prolong their life today so they can live on in misery tomorrow?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"