Though marketed as a Sharon Stone thriller,When A Man Falls revolves around three friends are reunited as their lives become increasingly desperate and dysfunctional.It features Stone together with Dylan Baker, Stacie Bono, Timothy Hutton and Pruitt Taylor Vince.It was written and directed by Ryan Eslinger.Bill is a lonely middle-aged man who works as a night janitor in a large office building; he keeps himself company at work by listening to opera, and as he tries to sleep through the day he obsessively listens to a self-help tape that teaches "lucid dreaming." One of the men working Bill's building is Gary, who has a habit of falling asleep at his desk rather than go home to deal with his loveless marriage to Karen, who is convinced she's losing her looks and turns to shoplifting for comfort. Even though Gary bullied Bill when they were in high school together, when they meet by chance at the office one night Gary is thrilled to see him, and suggests they get together with another fellow classmate, Travis. However, as they spend time together, the three men are only reminded of their emotional isolation, and how their lives have not turned out as they dreamed.This independent drama moves too slowly to generate suspense, while the characters lack sufficient development for their catharsis to have the desired impact. Despite their efforts, this leaves the actors stranded at times, particularly Baker, whose Bill is too bizarre to inspire much sympathy. Of the leads,only Vince makes the best impression.But nevertheless,it is a gripping film that is sure to keep you guessing until the end.

I can't believe I managed not to turn this movie off, when it immediately spiraled into deep, dark, depression, and never recovered. I love Sharon Stone and Timothy Hutton, but this movie is bad enough that it could end their careers. The plot, if you can call it that, goes nowhere fast. I kept waiting for more Sharon Stone, to enter the dark world the plot outlines, but details are sketchy at best. I forced myself to watch the entire thing, because I thought it could only get better, but I was wrong. It only gets worse, then when you realize you've just lost 86 minutes of your life you'll never get back, it's really disappointing. This movie is a total bummer, and a waste of time. If you're thinking of renting it, I wouldn't!!!

I enjoyed this movie a lot. The opening scenes, focusing on shots of electrical leads unravelling, an alienated janitor, moving his hoover back & forth, show that this is the kinda of film which you may have to suspend judgement a little over what is happening and where it might be heading and perhaps look a little deeper at the symbolism. Inter-twining lives are not of course new but those of the three male leads, Bill, Gary & Travis & that of Karen are not so much connected by events but more by how they are dealing, or not dealing with, their various personal dilemmas & tragedies or just their own approaches to their lives. Beautifully shot, well acted & directed, this film has more than an air of surrealism & may be open to more interpretation of the dreams & realities & possibilities than perhaps you might think at first. Recommended.

The original title of this bleak film - WHEN A MAN FALLS IN THE FOREST - was inexplicably shortened to the nebulous WHEN A MAN FALLS for the release of the DVD: had the original title been retained, the audience may have been given a clue as to the intended message of the story. This is the second film for 26-year old writer/director Ryan Eslinger and it does suggest that he wants to deal with some existential material, but he has a way to grow into how to make it happen.The lives of three men and a woman are interconnected in the all too common shallow 'relationships' that are a major problem in how our society is working. Bill (Dylan Baker) is a night janitor in a large company, a man who shuts out the boring world with his earphones connected to the great opera classics: he avoids people including those who saunter past him and those whose chaotic lives in the next door apartment distress him. Gary Fields (Timothy Hutton) is a down and out professional man who works in the building that Bill nocturnally keeps tidy, the two 'old high school acquaintances' meeting only because Gary has taken to sleeping in the office. Gary's wife Karen (Sharon Stone, without makeup and looking spent and used) has lost all feeling for living, detests Gary, and finds her only joy is in shoplifting. Gary has shut himself off from old friends for reasons that seem to be related to an accident that involved is best friend Travis (Pruitt Taylor Vince), a man at odds with his own environment. The only apparent connection here is that, once Gary discovers that Bill is a night janitor, Gary and Travis feel guilty that their response to Bill in high school had been one of cruel ridicule. Each of the four main characters wanders aimlessly through a world that has become strange and vindictive and it is only a bizarre incident that throws the quartet into some semblance of meaning. Each person has fallen, but since they are in the midst of a lonely 'forest', has anyone noticed or cared? This could be a study in personal tragedy were it done better, but despite the fine credentials of the actors, the script is so full of holes that character development suffers and what results is not unlike watching an injured bull struggling around a bullfight ring as the crowd attends to the matador et al. Sadly we just don't care about these damaged people, making connection with the film next to impossible. Maybe next film...Grady Harp