Getting to Know You 2000

Getting to Know You takes place one afternoon in a bus station as siblings Judith and Wesley, virtually abandoned by their parents, wait for buses going in two different directions. As they silently sit, Judith is befriended by Jimmy because she is the only one willing to listen to his tall tales about other people in the station. He fabricates a detailed story about a naive woman's trip to an intimidating Atlantic City, working from fragmented details he has overheard in the coffee shop. His storytelling becomes a game when he sees a pretty woman alone, waiting for her bus, and describes to Judith the events leading up to that moment. Director Lisanne Skyler, whose documentary, No Loans Today, screened at Sundance in 1995, uses a bold and innovative structure to depict the stories within the film. They possess such detail and innocent beauty that it is easy to forget they are not totally real. Instead, they express the characters' fears about love and abandonment and act as a device to bring their personal stories to the surface. Told by Judith, the last tale is a true story about the way Judith and Wesley were made to feel guilty and responsible for all of their parents' unfulfilled dreams. It becomes clear why they are alone as well as what holds them together. In the end, the characters learn that opening up to someone else helps you discover yourself.