Who Am I This Time? (1982)

To answer that question: that it was longer. Then again to counter that own point, maybe this was a film that was very close to Vonnegut's original story, thus not extending it to feature length or making it an actual theatrical release. As it is it should be just a trifle, but it's more than that. Director Jonathan Demme adds a light air of circumstance to the proceedings, and plants some of his trademarks (notably the precise positioning of the camera on faces, as we all know from most of his films) while letting the actors have at it. And it's quite an amazing piece for those who love theater, and how an actor's mind meets with heart. At the same time it's not sentimental; this story of a woman (Sarandon) who keeps moving from town to town and never settling anywhere or meeting anyone, and a man (Walken) who is an introvert who lets himself out through incredible community theatre productions, who meet on the set of Streetcar Named Desire and fall for each other in the oddest way is about as charming as one could imagine.Aside from the power of seeing Walken take on iconic parts (i.e. Cyrano, Stanley Kowalski), he's fantastic at being incredibly subtle and at underplaying his meek clerk-turned-star. If you want to see him outside of being the Continental or giving gold watch speeches, come here. And Sarandon is excellent too, in a role that requires her to be compassionate and kind and understanding and blah blah and she does it without flinching in a step. It's short, and sadly not longer (though I'd love to see the 95 minute cut from Argentina!), but it's one of Demme's better efforts of the 90s, a true small-town chamber piece of love.

Walken gives a funny, sweet performance as a community theater acting dynamo and heart-throb -- who's so shy he can't hold a conversation unless it's scripted.Sarandon is also very good as the woman who falls in love with him and attempts to bring him out of his off-stage shell.To be honest, though, this TV movie suffers a bit from very cheap production values, occasionally weak direction, and mediocre performances by much of the rest of the cast -- even apart from their purposely amateurish play-within-a-play acting.In addition, it's one of the few movies I've seen that's actually too short. It would have benefited from at least one more off-stage scene further developing Walken's and Sarandon's characters.Still, I like it a lot and highly recommend it.

I show this film to whoever I can. It's heartwarming without ever being saccharine. Walken and Saradon are marvelous together, the script is great, the evocation of the small town theatre group perfect. There are several uses of the play within a play theme, all of them perfect. I especially loved the game played with The Importance of Being Earnest.

An early work for actors Christopher Walken, Susan Serandon, and director Jonathan Demme. A great story adapted from Kurt Vonnegut. This is a very sweet story of two shy people finding each other and expressing themselves through commonly known dialogue from different plays. An adorable pair with great chemistry.