Based on a collection of short stories by writer/director Rebecca Miller (daughter of Arthur), Personal Velocity offers an intimate look at three women who are shaking up their lives.
In the first of these half-hour segments, a battered wife (Kyra Sedgwick) flees from her abusive husband; in the second, a New York editor (Parker Posey) starts an affair with a bestselling author; while the third sees a troubled twentysomething (Fairuza Balk) give a lift to a young runaway she meets on the road.
Each of the segments are well-structured short stories, building towards three very distinct climaxes, and each features faultless performances from their leading ladies. If there's any problem, it's that Miller's tales are still entangled in their literary roots, the pretentious voiceover reading straight from the page ("The damp underwear on the radiators gave off a stench of panic").
Nonetheless, this is a compelling, affecting drama, told in a strong female voice that refuses to be silenced.
