Some Body (2002)

Movies about love and sex and dating, even charming ones like ''Kissing Jessica Stein,'' very rarely get the messy, in-between stuff -- the way that a relationship can fall apart, say, because an irksome yet seemingly minor personal habit has begun to define someone in your eyes. Some Body, a terrifically sharp-eyed and innovative drama set in the Los Angeles singles scene, is built around the fascinating nothings of life on the romantic prowl. The movie was cowritten by its star, Stephanie Bennett, who based it directly, if not confessionally, upon her own personal travails (a number of her ex-lovers appear as suitors). She and the director and cowriter, Henry Barrial, have constructed the film as a kind of racy, exploratory, too-raw-for-TV reality series about a set of characters who happen to be fictional -- though if you were told otherwise, you might just believe it.

Bennett, who has the avid, laughing squint of an ultra-libidinous Cate Blanchett, plays Sam, a grade-school teacher and party girl who opts out of a tender relationship because a part of her still craves adventure. She proceeds to go on a man binge, some of it casual, some intense, some dangerous, and what makes the film's use of digital video truly expressive is that we never feel as if we're just observing situations. We're watching Sam make momentary decisions as she follows the muse of her desire and loneliness. ''Some Body'' will take you places you haven't been, and also places you have.

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