Grand Canyon (1991)

Mack (Kevin Kline) lives a comfortable life in L.A. with his wife Claire (Mary McDonnell) and son Roberto (Jeremy Sisto). One night after a Lakers game with friend Davis (Steve Martin), his car breaks down in a bad neighborhood. He is threatened by young thugs when tow truck driver Simon (Danny Glover) comes to the rescue. Davis is a producer of violent films and he gets shot during a mugging. Claire discovers an abandoned baby. She is suffering from an empty nest and brings the baby home. Mack is drawn to his flirtatious secretary Dee (Mary-Louise Parker). Simon lives alone and has a deaf daughter. His sister Deborah (Tina Lifford) lives in a rough neighborhood and her son Otis is being pulled into a gang. Their house gets shot up. Mack sets up Simon with Jane (Alfre Woodard) from the office.This starts with a very memorable turn by Danny Glover. His little speech is a poetic plea for civility. The varied characters from varied backgrounds all have compelling lives. I am reminded of Oscar winning Crash (2004) except I like this one better. I feel drawn into each character's world. Unlike Crash, I don't feel manipulated. These characters have more reality and more humanity. Every one of them is trying to live within this interconnected world.

Grand Canyon revolved around six residents from different backgrounds whose lives intertwine in modern-day Los Angeles. At the center of the film is the unlikely friendship of two men from different races and classes brought together when one finds himself in jeopardy in the other's rough neighborhood.Maybe this film was heralded when it came out, but looking back on it now, it seems to me to be a poor man's Robert Altman. The intertwined lives are nice, but ultimately rather shallow. The race factor is stereotypical. Sure, they do make the point of having the lead be ignorant by hooking up the only two black people he knows. But is the script itself much better? Some have compared this film to "Crash", which sort of goes the other way and has the race factor be over the top. Why can we not just have a film about race without having to make race a factor? If that ever happens we will finally be moving in the right direction.

Lawrence Kasdan directs "Grand Canyon", a sprawling ensemble piece which recalls such films as "Magnolia", "Crash", "Short Cuts" and "City of Hope". With the exception of "Short Cuts", these films tend to be very contrived, filled with strained connections and spending much of their time making laboured points about fate, fragility, coincidence and the interconnectedness of life.Though better written than its imitators, "Grand Canyon" does the same thing. Set in Los Angeles, the film glides gracefully across a set of characters, all of whom share common experiences despite their different economic strata, ages and racial backgrounds. Though at times unfocused, the film is ambitious and contains a number of well written sequences, including one in which actor Kevin Kline describes the moment a stranger saved his life. Another scene, in which a father and son share a driving lesson, is particularly beautiful. It points to life's precariousness, the way every mundane activity carries with it both risk and bravery, as well as the infinite number of little "miracles" which occur everyday.On another level, "Canyon" is a "white, middle-class, suburban disaffection movie" in the vein of "American Beauty", "The Ice Storm", "Safe", "Far From Heaven" and "Happiness", most of which were released in the mid 90s. "Canyon", however, predates them all, and is resolutely upbeat. Where those films tend to end in violence, disillusionment and disaffection "Canyon" ends on a note of almost naive optimism. And while most of these films focus on a white, middle class, "Canyon" jumps from the staggeringly rich, to the middle class, to ghetto-trapped African Americans. Another distinction is Kasadan's direction itself, which isn't afraid to drop into surreal territory. The film includes several extended dream sequences, one of which recalls the Coens' "Big Lebowski", another LA flick."Canyon" indulges in two recurring metaphors or motifs, that of "The Grand Canyon" and that of permanently patrolling helicopters, the latter resembling the "med fly" aircraft of Altman's "Short Cuts". Kasdan's point: man is utterly inconsequential when stacked up against a universe that is simultaneously vast, beautiful, horrific, malevolent and seemingly time-less. Elsewhere Kasdam's patrol helicopters offer a mixed sense of guilt, danger and perhaps cosy communal safety, the world presumed dangerous, but rendered navigable alongside the watchful eyes, or even miracles, of others."Canyon" isn't as good as "Short Cuts", but it is better than all the other "ensemble movies" and "disaffection dramas" that came later. In terms of flaws, all of Kasdan's characters speak the same, regardless of their economic standing. The film is also at times very heavy handed, condescending and has that typically overproduced look of early 90s Hollywood.7.9/10 – There are a number of great scenes here, but the film can't sustain these highs. Worth one viewing.

I couldn't believe the overall rating of this movie was 6.3. It's a movie that peers into the inter soul of every person and leaves you with the desire to wake up each new day with the understanding we have been granted a fresh opportunity to do make a positive difference in someone's life. And a chance to do the right thing, thereby impacting our own life for the better. I can't change the world; but, that gives me no excuse to not change the world for the better for those I come into contact with. Life is about the vertical and the horizontal. We are to focus on the vertical and the gift of life that God has graciously given us so that we may make a difference in the horizontal--our lives with one another.