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Shot on cutting-edge digital video, this quirky and innovative comedy thriller from director/writer Mike Figgis is a technical tour de force. It offers four separate but intertwined takes on the same series of events, shown simultaneously on a single, quartered screen. Emphasis on one or more of the four soundtracks provides guidance as to what to watch when, while the familiar faces of, among others, Holly Hunter, Saffron Burrows, Salma Hayek, Jeanne Tripplehorn and Julian Sands help catch the eye. The sequences, which all feature characters directly or indirectly involved with a Los Angeles film-production company, play out in real time, and were filmed that way too, in continuous takes with no edits. Like eavesdropping on four juicy conversations at a cocktail party, dipping first into one, then another, watching the split-screen format does require concentration, and takes some getting used to. Although patchy at times, this is an intriguing and cleverly realised idea.

Depending on how you look at it, Figgis' fascinating film is the story of an alcoholic movie producer on the verge of a... read more on Time Out