John Sayles' latest film, \Casa de los Babys,"" is set in an unnamed Latin American country where six American women played by Lili Taylor, Darryl Hannah, Susan Lynch, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mary Steenburgen and Marcia Gay Harden are waiting for their adoption papers to clear so they can receive their babies.
The women are anxious with all the waiting and have started to get catty with one another as the film opens. Each of them has some sort of secret or backstory that is revealed over the course of the film.
The women suspect Skipper (Daryl Hannah) of being a lesbian. For most of the movie, her role consists mainly of doing heavy exercise and staring off into space. Meanwhile, the other women notice that Eileen (Susan Lynch) has been pinching pennies the whole time.
Most of the women are out of touch with the local surroundings and the condescending American, Nan (Marcia Gay Harden), says to others in a scene in a restaurant, ""If you won't complain, they take advantage of you.""
These scenes with the women killing time, waiting for the local bureaucracy to process their papers are mixed with local street scenes involving a young boy who resorts to petty theft, wipes windshields and huffs paint to get by.
In ""Casa de los Babys"" it is apparent John Sayles is a writer turned into a filmmaker. In his films the viewer is always aware that the actors and actresses are speaking written dialogue. Sayles characters spend a lot of time talking and thinking and his camera style consists of mostly static shots. He does not have an eye for important visual elements or a filmmakers natural gift for developing a story.
In ""Casa,"" the individual qualities of each actress hold your attention but unfortunately Sayles does not really give them anything to do besides babble on with each other and spout heartfelt monologues. Each actress gets her own.
No one emerges with a strong character except for Lily Taylor's Leslie, who has a strong, self-assured presence and some good one-liners, like ""Papaya is another word for pussy.""
""Casa de los Babys"" wants to say something about the adoption process and the situation in Latin America, but what that is never becomes clear.
