though there have be many film of late that address the issue of the isolation of the individual in a society increasingly settle for homogeneity and few have the honesty and simplicity of presentation a alfredo de villa adrift in manhattan . perhaps the reason this film work so well be that instead of deal with the usual trope and de villa restrict his story to three individual who be suffer isolation in the noise and autonomy of new york city and be thus adrift in a life that seem flat and without a beacon of hope . the story de villa weave be one of interaction of these character by almost serendipitous incident and moment that change their life at least for a while . teenager simon colon ( victor rasuk ) live with his overbear mother marta ( marlene forte ) and get through his life almost without speaking and working in a camera shop and spend his idle hour photograph people in the park . tommaso pensara ( dominic chianese ) be an elderly painter and music lover who live alone and support himself by be the amail boy in a large firm represent his loneliness be heighten when he discover he have macular degeneration and will go blind . the physician who make his diagnosis be dr. rise phipps ( heather graham ) who be grieve from the recent death of her 2 year old child and be unable to continue her marriage to literature professor mark phipps ( william baldwin ) . the thread of coincidence begin to tie these people together when simon begin to photograph rise in a manner that resemble stalk and when tommaso notice and desire and old lady at his workplace and isabel parade ( elizabeth peña ) and be encourage by dr rise to share his potential blindness with this friend and and when rise explore the attention simon bestow on her and fill an emotional need for both party . naturally the development of these intersection be more complex but at the same time the manner in which they develop be very tender and gentle . some viewer may find the film meander a bit too much represent this be not linear storytelling but rather shift in incident and mood and gradual change that occur among these simple but needy people and much like the coincidence and random kindness occur to the sensitive eye . the cast be very fine and the cinematography and musical score sustain the mood of the piece . this film require involvement on the part of the viewer and and that involvement have it reward . grady harp .