The Five Senses

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The Five Senses

R

1999

1h 45m

Drama

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Tomatometer

Popcornmeter

74%

Tomatometer

34 Reviews

80%

Popcornmeter

1,000+ Ratings

"The Five Senses" is a drama pivoting around the five senses -- touch, taste, hearing, smell and vision -- and the impact that each has on a group of individuals searching for an intimate human connection. The story takes place in Toronto over an intense three-day period in which a young child has disappeared, galvanizing the public and media's attention. Against this dramatic backdrop, five characters that live or work in the same building explore the primary senses in very personal ways.

Roger Ebert

Chicago Sun-Times

Jan 1, 2000

3/4

A story like Five Senses sounds like a gimmick, but Podeswa has a light touch when dealing with the senses and a sure one when telling his stories.

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Emanuel Levy

EmanuelLevy.Com

Aug 3, 2009

C+

The second feature by the openly gay Canadian director interweaves in a rather schematic mode but with elegant style the stories of five troubled characters, each standing for one of the senses.

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MaryAnn Johanson

Flick Filosopher

Dec 30, 2006

[A]n uncomfortable, poignant, and often ineffably sad film about death, loss, and loneliness, much of which is left unresolved.

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Film Threat

Dec 6, 2005

4/5

Jeanne Aufmuth

Palo Alto Weekly

May 14, 2003

2/4

Joshua Tanzer

Offoffoff

Apr 29, 2003

3.5/4

You'll probably think in a new way about the sounds and the music, the look of places and people, how much or little you take note of the scents and sensations of daily life.

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Mar 16, 2019

Gets better with each year and each viewing. This is a masterpiece but most critics were too ego-driven or too-stupid to see when it was first released.

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Oct 8, 2015

The Five Senses is your (mostly) typical indie urban drama with intersecting lives and stories. The vibe is very late nineties and overall it is nicely done in terms of acting and directing. Something about it makes me rate it a bit higher than films like "13 Conversations About One Thing". I think (contrary to some other reviewers) that it has more heart and a better sense of humor than similar dramas.

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Apr 29, 2014

I like movies that make me think - especially when they interweave the characters

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Jan 24, 2014

Beautifully contemplative ... mind not the melancholy.

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Jan 9, 2011

Decent piece about various characters looking/longing for many things that have themes with the human senses. But a rather blah movie.

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Nov 12, 2010

This film is beautifully poetic in its construction. Wonderfully scripted and georgously shot, it's an interesting concept, trying to show the world through the character's basic senses, and while it does kind of beat you over the head with the idea of the five senses (you have a cake decorator, an ear doctor, a masuse) it does so ever so subly if that is possible. Ambiguous, up-lifting and depressing all at once.

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Synopsis

"The Five Senses" is a drama pivoting around the five senses -- touch, taste, hearing, smell and vision -- and the impact that each has on a group of individuals searching for an intimate human connection. The story takes place in Toronto over an intense three-day period in which a young child has disappeared, galvanizing the public and media's attention. Against this dramatic backdrop, five characters that live or work in the same building explore the primary senses in very personal ways.

Screenwriter: Jeremy Podeswa
Distributor: Fine Line Features
Production Co: Alliance Atlantis Communications, Harold Greenberg Fund, Movie Network, Canadian Television, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Téléfilm Canada, Five Senses Productions
Rating: R
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): May 18, 1999, Original
Release Date (DVD): Jan 23, 2001
Box Office (Gross USA): $497.1K
Runtime: 1h 45m
Sound Mix: Dolby Digital

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