The story takes place in New York, Berlin and Tokyo, with each segment using the same dialogue.
In New York, Bill struggles to decide whether he has a future with Emily, while attempting to restrain Walter, the angry husband of a woman he thinks he might be in love with.
In Berlin, Dwight has a similar experience with his lover, while the events that befall Miho in Tokyo take a more dramatic turn.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 73% based on 11 reviews.[4] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[5]
Film critic James Berardinelli rated the film 2.5 out of 4 stars.[6]Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave it 2 out of 4 stars, stating that "It is more amusing to talk about than to experience." While he expresses his appreciation of the film's experimentation and its illustration of the mantra that a film is about how it's presented rather than its subject matter, he opines that it is more of an intellectual exercise than an enjoyable watch.[7] Writing for SPIN, Michael Atkinson said that "by the third replay of the same dialogue, you're significantly less enchanted with the material than Hartley apparently is with himself."[8]
Alison Macor of The Austin Chronicle gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, describing it as an "intriguing ride" and as Hartley's most ambitious film.[9] Film critic Emanuel Levy described it as "a semi-academic treatise about the limits of narrativity," and opined that it "offers some minor rewards."[10]
