It's New York, Sept. 10, 2001, and we know what's coming. <em>8:46</em>, the directorial debut by actress Jennifer Gargano, opens with a Muslim immigrant family whose father works at the World Trade Center coffee counter and shifts to the harried professional mother dropping her daughter at the WTC Day Care and the African-American janitor holding back his bitterness after being passed over again for promotion… The cast of characters keeps coming by the dozens and the dramatic challenge in this set-up is that we spend little time with any of them. But if the choppiness would normally be disconcerting, in this context it matters little because we know where everyone is headed. <em>8:46</em> is a tapestry of tragedy as the clock ticks toward that bright blue morning no one conscious on 9-11 will ever forget. <em>8:46</em> is out on DVD.
