Amazon.com

A much-loved cult favorite often overlooked by the mainstream, Trust is a hip, witty film that stretches the definition of a "romantic comedy." Hal Hartley's quirky, minimalist masterpiece--miles ahead of such later attempts as Amateur and Henry Fool--comes from the same school of offbeat character studies that launched better-known directors Jonathan Demme(Married to the Mob, Silence of the Lambs) and Whit Stillman (Metropolitan, The Last Days of Disco). Trust, like more conventional romances, tells the story of a blossoming relationship between two souls who are lost without each other--but the resemblance to ordinary love stories ends there. Matthew Slaughter (The Opposite of Sex's Martin Donovan) is a lovable, overeducated misanthrope (he always carries a hand grenade, as he says, "just in case..."). He's matched brilliantly with spoiled ex-cheerleader Maria Coughlin (Adrienne Shelly), a pregnant high-school dropout going through a full-blown existential crisis, largely because her allowance is being cut off. As their lives intersect, they are united by their bitter cynicism--twin pessimists condemned by their dysfunctional families and the shallow suburbanites around them ... and, despite their best efforts, destined for true romance. If you never thought brutally dry humor could be laugh-out-loud funny, then this is one movie you need to see. --Grant Balfour ... Read more

Reviews (23)

Wonderful film - hard to say why!
I love this movie. I am a big fan of Martin Donovan / Hal Hartley and consider this the best of both. I love the dry dialogue and the quirky music - they blend so well! This is an unusual movie, and it was my introduction into independent film years ago. It got me hooked on indy films and I love this type of cinema much more than the big-budget hollywood blow-outs. Do yourself a favor and chill out watching this for a couple hours, you won't be sorry!

One of the five best films ever made!
Hal Hartley's simple, brilliant masterpiece. Martin Donovan should have won an oscar for his performance as Matthew Slaughter. All the characters are written to perfection, and they complement each other perfectly. The film is as sad as it is hilarious (there are some 50 lines of dialogue that are worth quoting here). Matthew Slaughter's character is made all the more real by the ending. As an "empiricist" who doesn't believe in love, he can only understand what it is (love) once things turn in the wrong direction for him. The love between him and Maria Coughlin (Adrienne Shelly) is not one of those stuffy Hollywood romances, but a simple trust and understanding between two individuals (admiration, respect, trust equal love!). Further complicating matters between them are their downright sinister parents; Matthew's father beats him, while Maria's mother blames her for the death of her father. Simple, intricate, funny, sad, and filled with nuggets of wisdom, this film ranks up there with "Psycho," "Wizard of Oz," "2001" and "Persona" as one of the crowing achievements of cinema, and unfortunately so very few of you out there have seen it.

imperative that this come out on dvd
This is the movie that I viewed third, the one that made me see what these brilliant people were doing - almost a new form of expression blending the novel, the play and cinema and music too into something else, something very accessible to modern thinking human beings. I could call it super-real or even better than super-real.

IF I have to get this on VHS and make a DVD myself, I will. I will wait only a few more weeks. Easily done, of course, but this movie should be out there! in all formats.

I love it. It is sweet and timeless.

Oh what luck, and from such an unexpected source
Back in the days when I was ignorant enough to shell out hard earned (or at least well faked) money for pay movie channels, I was bumbling around the "dial" and ran into the second half of Trust.

Later, I made a point of finding the next showing and watched and taped it.

I was blown away. The discourse was uniquely deadpan and honest at the same time. The acting was fabulous. Martin Donovan promptly became one of the few actors, and the only actor from North America, whose work is required viewing. I have a somewhat longer list of actresses, but being an unrepentant auteurist, required films are almost always based on director.

After seeing Trust, Hal Hartley was lodged firmly in the mandatory list. The relationship between Maria and Matthew managed to be both realistic and stylized at the same time. Not an easy combination to pull off. They talk to each other, rarely look at each other, and yet the connection is palpable. The film is deeply compassionate. The dialogue is like a sort of music, especially in its rhythms, its pauses. The supporting character roles, especially Maria's father are painted precisely with deft strokes.

Trust is one of my favorite Hartley films. Flirt is the only film of his I have found disappointing, Simple Men and The Book of Life are my favorites. I loved The Unbelievable Truth. I seem to have liked No Such Thing more than most other Hartley fans and Amateur slightly less, although I did like it.

Trust really should be on DVD and, although several Hartley films have just been released on DVD Trust does not seem to be scheduled yet. Tsk tsk. Wait for the DVD.

trust is hartley's best..
In my opinion, I think that TRUST is hal hartley's best work to date. Because he was still new and had some fresh expirementation in mind. Especially with dialogue that's seemingly interesting in every film. And Martin Donovan give's a performance that I compare him to, whenever, I see him in a film. Which isn't fair, but I'm not fair. I should be. But.

so anyway, if you get the chance to see this, take advantage of it. i give people the hartley chance, but they turn it down, not really knowing what they turned down, because they want to watch [stuff] like Face Off or Con Air or something along those lines. so if some guy like me is like, "Hey want to watch Trust?" be like, "Yes, yes I would like to watch Trust. "

oh muffin, now i'm starting to sound like a commercial.

regards,

matthew vicker ... Read more

Reviews (22)

All future generations shall see this movie
"The Book of Life" as most reviewers say here it's very thought provoking, and powerful film, and it's like a dream that in the rest of your life, you shall never forget, every human being on this planet should see it, the music, the camera work, the script, the acting, make this movie feel very real, i strongly recommend you to buy the DVD, not the VHS,on VHS the movie almost looses it's power, but in any format specially on DVD, it's still captivating, on amazon, now "The Unbeliveable Truth" another movie by our dear friend Hal Hartley has camed up, and as this movie it's one of his best movies, also i also strongly recommend you to buy the soundtrack, and if you loved this movie, or at least liked it, check out "Ghost in the Shell", "Henry Fool" or "Princess Mononoke".

Excellent New Years Eve Movie
This is a superb film by Hal Hartley. Part of a European project on views of the millenium, Hartley submits a film that only an American could make. It is very slick, due in part to his use of digital film. The music complements the scenes perfectly (and the soundtrack makes a great CD too!). The movie traces an introspective Jesus on New Years Eve trying to end the world (think of it as the old black and white The Horn Blows and Midnight redone for the 21st century). In presenting the story the movie is a travelogue for NYC- and has an excellent NY feel- from the hotel bar, to the times square music store, to the Russian restaurant (note that the lights say TRUTH and FAITH in Russian) and in the street. It is uniquely American (in the millenium film group) in that it plays off the city, the law, and the business deal to make its point.

This movie humanises Jesus, but at the same time avoids the intentional controversy around, say, a Last Temptation of Christ. In addition, the character of the devil is really a joy to watch. This movie will make you think.

The only weakness is a rather sappy ending. I suppose it is a tricky film to end, but I found all but the last 5 minutes on the staten island ferry to be wonderful, but those last five were really not worthy of the rest of the film.

beyond belief
Living in England, I doubted I would ever get to see this short, let along actually own it. This is a multiregional release, so us Limeys can purchase the DVD as well as you darned Yankees. The film itself is only an hour or so, but succeeds on every level - there's not an ounce of fat on it. A freewheeling take on millenial apocalypse, it stars Hartley veteran (and all round object of desire) as, appropiately, God versus Thomas Jay Ryan's delicious Satan. A superb supporting cast including PJ Harvey (a revelation) and Hartley's better half Miho Nikado help bolster this humorous and theologically inventive piece into the realms of pure cinematic joy. Thomas Jay Ryan's Satanic deliveries to camera are superb. His best film? Quite possibly. Go on, shoot me. Reccomended without hesitation to all.

touching and thoughtful
I bought this DVD a couple years ago. Being a PJ Harvey fan, I was curious to see her acting debut. Well, turned out to be her only role actually, as she hasn't acted since. She did a fine job, certainly didn't embarrass herself anyway. I was familiar with Hal Hartley, but hadn't seen anything by him prior to this movie. I've since seen 'Henry Fool' and enjoyed that. The same lead in that film plays Satan in this film and does a good job. He's quite amusing.

My initial reaction to this film was a little indifferent. Somewhat amusing and interesting, but not much beyond that. I've watched it several times since then, in bits and pieces mostly, and I enjoy it much more now.

I do share some of the complaints about the jerky camera motion, which gets annoying quickly for me. I like some of the other unique touches, like the microphone set-up throughout the movie in various locations for the Devil to pontificate from. It was a risky maneuver, but it works here.

I thought the last scene was quite touching, with Jesus on a barge, tossing the "book of life" into the water as he contemplates the fate of mankind. That speech makes me tear-up everytime!

For those interested in getting the DVD, just be aware that there are no extras on this disc. Maybe that's good news. I know sometimes I find the extras to be a burden as you feel obligated to watch all the extras. I strongly endorse the soundtrack (if you can find it). Lots of good stuff there.

If you are a fan of either Hartley or PJ Harvey for that matter, I see no reason why you shouldn't watch this movie. I really think it's worth owning too, if you are a big fan of either.

typical Hal Hartley
Martin Donovan (Trust) plays Jesus and Thomas Jay Ryan (Henry Fool) is the Devil as the clock ticks down on the last day of the world in Manhattan. Jesus agonizes over unlocking the seven seals of the apocalypse on his Apple laptop, verbally battles the Devil, and walks around NYC with Magdalene (PJ Harvey) on this most eventful of days.

This is a typical Hal Hartley film -- incredible premise, great actors, and creative but cheap production. I enjoyed the film even though the glaring lights and jerky camera got old -- at just over 60 minutes you don't have time to get too annoyed :-)

Extras are minimal -- credits and filmographies for Hartley and Donovan.

A worthwhile addition to Hartley's ouevre but as often happens with this talented director, one feels that the potential was greater than the execution. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Hal Hartley's three-part film about desire and commitment has an interesting experimental quality: the first and second stories are essentially the same tale with the same dialogue, but with contrasting orientations. Part 1 is set in New York in 1993, with Bill (William Sage) standing in a phone booth, listening to a lover, Emily (Parker Posey), trying to talk him into making a marriage proposal before she accepts another. After they hang up, Bill is on the line with Margaret (Hannah Sullivan), making the same sort of entreaties Emily had made to him. Reality and fantasy start to merge as three homeless men begin advising Bill in a restroom about his love life, and Margaret's husband gets ready to shoot himself. Part 2 is set in Berlin in 1944, where the preceding story is recycled among a group of homosexual characters. Finally, the trilogy ends in 1995 Tokyo, where we watch a mime troupe distill Hartley's narrative template to its dramatic essence.The overall effect of Hartley's wandering eye for locale and placement is a compelling study of the mysteries of "story" itself, a formalist issue the writer-director has always dealt with in the most disarming, comic ways.There's less laughter in Flirt than in Hartley's previous movies (though that's not true of his subsequent work), but this is a more baldly self-referential piece than he has made before. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (11)

If you love Hal Hartley this is for you
This film is built from a device Hal Hartley used in his early films: looped repeating conversations/actions. I have always been delighted by these moments- especially the clinic conversation in "Trust." Here we see the same storyline played out three times in three different locations by three different casts to varying conclusions. Several of the Hartley regulars are present which is always a plus and Hal himself makes an appearance. This is a lighter film than "Amateur", more of a throwback to his early work. If you loved "Simple Men" and "The Unbelievable Truth" this is the film for you.

A Hal Hartley masterpiece
Hal Hartley appears to be an acquired taste... I have only seen 3 of his films so far (this, the flat-out brilliant Trust, and the okay Henry Fool) but he's clearly one of the most underappreciated American directors working today. I think the delivery of his dialogue is what kills it for most people. It's very deliberate and generally not filled with an overkill of emotion. I find this approach allows me to listen to what the characters are actually saying (as opposed to just how they're saying it). That Hartley's one of the few screenwriters with something to actually say really seals the deal.
I don't want to suggest Flirt lacks emotion though. It manages to pack in more complex emotions that most more histrionic films. In one scene, a man threatens another with a gun, reconciles with him, embraces him, has a change of heart, and shoots him. A woman who witnesses this, hearing some music that begins to play, begins to dance, caught in the moment, slips to the ground, and gets up regaining her sense of reality. This sounds absurdist, and it plays that way in the film. Still, it manages to convey a great deal of human emotions in about a minute without a false note. Hartley is a master at achieving a desired effect.
Flirt is somewhat experimental in that it replays the same narrative with nearly the same dialogue in three different countries with three different casts. This never felt boring to me, as the intention of some of the lines and the overall outcome of the situation changes each time. What's interesting is that the plot of the episodes is that the character has 90 minutes to make up their mind about whether their relationship has a future. Not coincidentally, the film is 90 minutes long. Clearly Hartley is commenting on the use of art (screenwriting, film direction) to solve personal demons. One feels he is using this film to explore a personal dilemma for himself, a point that is driven home when Hartley himself shows up in the third episode as the possibly spurned lover.
It's interesting that such an apparent act of directorial vanity never feels like hubris. Hartley manages to make an extremely personal film that actually has something universal to say. He manages to be stylistically bold without being gaudy or excessive. He manages to make the same plot interesting three times. He manages to create a masterpiece in "Flirt".

Not your typical romantic movie
FLIRT is not your typical romantic movie of the 90's (when it was filmed). But that's what makes it so great. If you are tired of the "boy meets girl, boy falls for girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl back" scenario, then you'll like FLIRT. If not, go rent SHE'S ALL THAT with pretty boy Freddie Prinze, Jr. And spare me the details, please.

I would also suggest that when viewing this film, you not concentrate on the fact that many of the lines are repeated from one setting to the next (and there are a startling number of lines repeated). But rather look for the more subtle differences and similarities.

If you are a person who views things with greater depth than "black and white", I think you will enjoy this movie.

My Thoughts
I thought it was very interesting of how the three stories are somewhat different but the outcome is the same. It's as they have a connection between each other, even though each story takes place in a different environment and time all together. As if they all had a vision of this event happening, and that's what makes it so intriguing.

not his best, but we're talking about a genius
Hal Hartley is way ahead of his time. This is not his best film, but it's definitely worth watching. I first saw an excerpt in a sociology/religion class which hooked me: advice on love and commitment in a bathroom. This film takes chances, and some of them aren't that entertaining, but overall it's not as bad as elsewhere reviewed on this site. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Should be on a Top-100 List to see
Perfect in it's balance of unnatural dialog and incredible insight into life and relationships, this is a fabulous movie. As surreal and funny as Raising Arizona, Simple Men's subtle humor isn't quite as redundantly over-the-top. If you appreciate dry wit and intelligent rapport, you are in the right vicinity.

Although I love his films, Hartley isn't for everyone. The obscure dialog and sparse camera work is tailored for artistic sensibilities.

Why isn't this film maker famous?
As a film fan with a brand new DVD player, my first priority in begining my movie library was to obtain a copy of 'Simple Men', and another Hal Hartley film, 'The Unbelievable Truth'. I have been unable to track down the latter, but was happy to find more Hartley films available. I believe fans of 'Repo Man' and 'Clerks' would be very pleased with 'Simple Men'. I just hope Hartley's great films make onto the more durable DVD format. Hartley fans need to unite!

poor effort
This is one of Hartley's lesser efforts.
He recycles characters and mannerisms to
the point of tedium. It's too bad
considering his many other fine films.

Amazing
A few years ago I was looking for some movie in TV when in wrong move I put one of this channels you never watch cos the quality of the image is bad and the movies are in my spoken languaje (spanish, I prefer with subtitles). I don't remember what scene but I remember the face of Robert John Burke from Robocop III, talking some very clever dialogues. After just a few minutes I couldn't change the channel till the movie ends leaving me absolutely impress.
Just a few weeks later by the same reason I catch "Trust" and from this same moment I became fan of Hal Hartley.
Why?
Because after years watching more than one hundred different movies of any style and director, Simple men and the rest of the Hartley's work show me another vision of life and another way to make movies, thinking more in a good and very deep script with a few good actors than a good budget with great special effects.
It reminds me the movies of Terrence Malick, because in the chaos of the existence both directors show the path of the real survivors, not those guys who are born to be heroes, just those one only wanna some moment of peace and true love, that's it's more than all the glory of the universe.

Simple Men on DVD
For all you Hal Hartley fans who have desired having a copy of Simple Men on DVD, your time has come. Simple Men will be released on DVD widescreen format January 27, 2004. I can't wait to get my copy!!! ... Read more

Reviews (26)

Hartley's folly
Hal tries to do too much here and it doesn't cohere. While all his films have disparate elements that he brings together based on his character's psyches, pulling them into converging situations, here the convergence is much too contrived.

The focus is lost because of the presence of too many reasons to make the film--media satire, the stupidity of man as revealed by history, Beauty and the Beast, man's place in the universe, meaningless intellectuals and scientists, et cetera, et cetera.

When a young woman reporter (Sarah Polley) finds out her fiance Jim was killed in Iceland, she travels there to find out what happened and encounters a foul-mouthed creature who admits to killing Jim and his colleagues. The monster speaks perfect English and rants and raves to the reporter about killing a lot of stupid human beings--either that or wanting to die himself. She convinces him to come with her to New York where he becomes a media darling for a day or two, then is subjected to intense scientific research. The monster is impervious to bullets and tells the reporter only one man can kill him...

This is really Hartley doing a comic book version of his own type of movie. Too bad, because there are some interesting elements here. For example, a pre-credit sequence reveals the monster immediately and has him spouting his typical vitriol; this works very well.

Aside from the plethora of themes tossed out willy-nilly, there are too many cliches in the film to really make it work. The dialogue thrown off by Helen Mirren's media boss is much too trite to contribute any real substance and while she's always an excellent actress, she tries hard to make this work and just can't do it. Similarly, Damian Young's research scientist spews lines that hark back to the dopiest 50s science fiction films. And the entire sequence when girl and monster first come to NY City is total cliche.

Additionally, the reporter was the sole survivor of a jumbo jet crash. The only reason to include this was to, ostensibly, establish more of a link between her and the monster--i.e., she's a media star for a short time based on freakish events, and he too shares the same brief spotlight because of his freakish appearance. But this link is much too tenuous; the reporter's survival of the accident really does not add anything to the film at all.

For the best Hartley film, see Henry Fool where his control is perfect. Another excellent film by him is Amateur. But this one is a misfire.

Curious, indeed
I'm a big Hal Hartley fan, even though a lot of his movies leave me perplexed... maybe that's what I admire. But 'No Such Thing' left too much unspoken & I was left drop jawed & alone at the end of this one.

The idea is intriguing- a real life monster, the only of his kind, who swills wine, kills humans, speaks English- yet lives in obscurity off the chilly coast of Iceland- meets a young, naive yet strangely wise, girl named Beatrice who has set off to find her fiance- reportedly eaten/attacked by the monster. During her journey she meets with pain & sacrifice which puts her at an advantage with the monster.

Hartley's satire turns them into media darlings for their '15 minutes,' until they find the only doctor who can kill the monster. The final scenes of the movie are rushed & confused & the ending is dissappointing at best.

I still recommend it for those looking for new approaches to storytelling & film- just be prepared for an ending that leaves you to make your own conclusions.

Not just for Hartley fans
While reading the reviews for this film I was surprised that everyone says that you need to be a Hal Hartley fan to enjoy it. I had never seen any Hartley films before I stumbled upon this one, but I instantly loved it. It is interesting for the fact that most people never see movies like this. No Such Thing is so absurd and creative that I feel many people could enjoy it. I ended up liking this movie so much that I decided to buy it before even seeing any of Hartley's other films.(Which I am going to do based on the power of this film)

not the best Hartley movie to start with
By any normal standard, this is a terrific movie. The two lead actresses are brilliant; production, makeup and costumes are gorgeous, the scenery is the best I've seen since 'Lawrence of Arabia', and several exquisite moments in the film rival the best of Kubrick, Godard, and Stillman.

This is a Hal Hartley film though, and it doesn't get judged by any normal standard. Fact is, after 'Unbelievable Truth', 'Trust', 'Simple Men', 'Amateur', 'Book of Life', and 'Henry Fool', a Hal Hartley movie is expected to offer breathtaking, unbelievably distilled plot, dialog and wit, hilariously deadpan philosophizing and commentary, and characters that snap to your attention with their uncompromising honesty, honor, and relevance. And compared with Hartley's masterpieces, 'No Such Thing' just doesn't deliver. Having a reasonable budget and a truly professional crew for the first time let Hartley make his movie efficiently, but the late-night beer-and-honing sessions that were part of how the earlier movies achieved their brilliance never happened here. This movie got made from his rough draft, smoothly and professionally and just as it was, and before he could even do anything about it. Buy the other films first, this is for fans only.

hal hartley invents and destroys...
monster: hey, i mean, wouldn't you like to see me dead? i killed your friends!

beatrice: if that's true, then i think you should be brought to justice and pay for the crimes you committed.

monster: justice?

beatrice: yeah, two wrongs don't make a right. it's like my mom always used to say, "jesus had it all right and proper. you've got to learn to love your enemies too."

monster: jesus? alright, i can already see this is going to be a disaster.

hal hartley's monster is changeless and eternal. he's the thing we always run from for fear of a meaningless existence. he's meaning personified. but the monster (burke) now lives in seclusion. his purpose waning in a consumer-crazed planet. an outcast even to his own creators, tossed aside, exchanged for the wonderful vices of the world. and each day carries the possibility of another. yesterday's is recycled and a week later is again on the front page. all is well and progressive without evil. meanwhile, the monster remains dormant in a cave in offshore iceland, drunken and depressed, worse each day, without even the comfort of suicide, denied. until one day, a corporate media investigator shows up at the entrance of the cave to discover the whereabouts of a team of reporters destined to get the story on the monster, whom the monster without hesitation or remorse dispatched (even bored to tears while doing so). the reporter beatrice (polley) discovers the bleak situation offering her natural kindness and sympathy to which the monster replies: "I HATE THAT PITY SH**!" but they end up striking a bargain; the monster in one more media run in exchange for his termination.

sarah polley whom i last saw in the claim is a sisyphus-like angel who makes little notes of the media-induced chaos surrounding her every move. that's life, and it's kinda funny but ultimately bleak which the monster reminds polley and the world within every frame of his performance. burke and polley are both great, the monster is often hilarious but never sentimental. polley is the mother, whether of man or the earth, but one understands she's only visiting in a timeless and eternal sorta way. and although they may appear polar opposites, the message both the monster and beatrice carry are one in the same, bonded together by the same realization of mortality, absurdity. the music is goofy and melancholic but truly innovative, as is this thinking person's film. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Simon (James Urbaniak), a shy garbage man, lives with his sister (Parker Posey of Party Girl and Waiting for Guffman, among dozens of other movies) and mother, who both treat him with minimal respect. Into Simon's life comes Henry Fool (Thomas Jay Ryan), a heavy-drinking self-proclaimed great writer who goads Simon into writing an enormous poem. The poem becomes the source of great controversy, proclaimed by some as a great work of art, denounced by others as perversetrash. As Simon's star rises, he tries to draw attention to Henry's work aswell, to little avail. Though the premise seems simple, Henry Fool takeson something of an epic sweep as it follows the effects of fame on Simon's and Henry's lives. This rumination on art and inspiration was hailed by some critics as the best film yet by writer-director Hal Hartley (Trust, Simple Men, Amateur), while others felt it brought out his worst self-indulgences. All of Hartley's movies defy easy interpretation, and Henry Fool is no exception. Still, it's a rare film that even tries to tackle such subjects, let alone does so with a combination of intelligence and humor (ranging from verbal quirkiness to scatological embarrassment). Hartley's films, surprisingly enough, feel warmer and more accessible on video; perhaps watching them in one's home makes them seem more intimate and less abstract. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (45)

Ambiton, talent, art, responsibility, influence and love...
I didn't expect to like this video as much as I did. It has all the elements that I usually don't like in independent films. It moved too slow, it tried too hard to be arty, it used disgusting images, and it took a long long while to get to the point. I was bored occasionally and considered shutting it off, but then something would hook me again and I'd find myself intrigued and fascinated.

A shy and geek-like garbage man named Simon Grimm lives with his depressed mother and wild oversexed sister. Then, Henry Fool rents their basement apartment and everyone's life changes. He's loud, egomaniacal, weird, intelligent, has an extraordinary vocabulary and some of his long speeches are almost pure poetry. He has notebooks with him and tells Simon he's been writing a long confession that he won't show anyone but thinks of as a masterpiece. He influences Simon to start writing too.

The story is much more complex but involves ambition, talent, art, responsibility, influence and love. All this is brought out with a full cast of wonderful characters. The acting was exceptionally good. The casting excellent. The story was strange but very real. Parts of it skirted on pure genius. And after it was over I was moved and haunted by the questions it raised about life and art.

What a bunch of Henry Fools
If Hartley were reading this page of reviews, he would be laughing himself silly. So many of the reviewers here could be Henry Fool that it's pathetic.

The first thing one has to realize about this movie (and which should be obvious to anyone who was watching even halfway closely) is that Henry Fool is full of it. The sheer irony of the film is that he is nothing of what he makes himself out to be (a tortured genius, a misunderstood writer, a callous scoundrel, etc.) and simultaneously everything that he rails against (primarily the pseudo-intellectual elite). Henry is the epitome of the pretentious slacker plaguing modern America - always complaining, always about to do something momentous, always focusing on his/her needs, always feeding off of others, and never providing an unselfish moment for others. Henry makes time for Simon only because it amuses him to do so - he feels superior to Simon, even in the face of Simon's awakening greatness, but once Simon becomes independent of him (witness the negotiation scene between Simon and the publishing mogul), then Henry dismisses Simon as part of the world that doesn't understand his "unique" and lamentably absent genius.

But, to his defense, Henry does exhibit flashes of true humanity. He does love Fay, although he is incapable of showing it for more than a few minutes at a time. He is genuinely concerned about the abused Pearl and her mother, although it unwittingly gets him into a larger mess than anticipated. In his attempts to show his artistic sensibilities at the start of the film, Henry unwittingly sparks Simon's genius by encouraging him to write down any thoughts that strike him, although its clear that Henry expects nothing of import. Henry is the catalyst for Simon, Fay, and others' lives, and the fact that he does so little while talking so much is part of the ironic fun in this film - those who speak the least (Simon, Henry's son, and Daughter Dang) are the ones who do the most.

At the bottom of it all, Henry's biggest failing to refusing to accept his mistakes and crimes. He claims unrepentance but feels a deep-seated shame that comes out in his excuses - "People like us, Simon, great writers, can't be tied down to the everyday mundane existence of the common rabble" is a speech that resurfaces time and time again as a reason to avoid everyday labor, and the fact that he claims that his affair with the 13-year-old is part of some conspiracy against him is symptomatic of his refusal to come to terms with himself.

The nature of discontent and how it brings out our seamier qualities is exemplified in Henry and other characters. The characters who accept their lives as given are the ones who succeed, while those who are discontented are driven to crime, drug and alcohol abuse, denigration of their families, and suicide "Does it matter that it's not remarkable?" asks Simon of his clinically depressed mother. "Yes," she replies, shortly before her death.

In short, Henry is a fool - he knows what is right, but he does wrong for the gluttonous joy of it. He knows what he should do to succeed in the world but chooses to live off of others because it would be too much effort otherwise. He has every reason to be content (a house, a lovely wife, a loving son, and a steady if menial job) but prefers his cynical and self-destructive worldview. He is everything that the world tells us can bring no good - and yet, he does manage to procreate two great things of beauty while living with the Grims - an amazing poet and a kindly, intelligent son. In the end, Henry is provided with a choice - to either run from his troubles as he has always done or to face the music and be a mensch. Which does he choose? is the question that Hartley leaves us with, along with the rest of this quirky, bumpy film.

While a good show, "Henry Fool" is not as engaging as "Trust" nor as offbeat as "Amateur." However, it is still a film worth watching. Forget the over-wraught analytical nonsense that the some many of the other reviewers and I have spewed - instead, watch this film and see if you can recognize a Henry Fool in your life.

The Thin Line Between Artists and Fakes
Awesome.

This is one of my top-five favorite films of all time.

I own this on VHS and I will buy the DVD as well.

It's understandable that some intelligent, creative people may dislike this film. The movie demonstrates how one can be brilliant, skilled and dedicated (Henry), but ultimately unable to deliver.

Henry's grasp of language and apparent intellectual depth are so engaging, we are fooled into believing his own claims to greatness. In a world crawling with self-proclaimed writers, artists and poets, it's a painful truth that talent and desire often do not lead to success.

But all of this is really just a plot vehicle for the overriding themes of the movie.

In the end, this is a film about friendship, loyalty, pride and family. And it's beautifully done.

I've watched it several times and I'll admit that it drags a bit in places, but I still love it.

Pseudo/quasi/wanna-be...
First, only pseudo intellectuals are trite enough to accuse others of being pseudo-intellectuals. It's simply taking the easy way out. An intellectual does not take the easy way out. Hal Hartley does not take the easy way out. The same goes for quasi-artistes and wanna-be critics. I agree with "Stuart Scott". If you need it all spelled out for you, who are you to criticize another's intellect? Henry Fool asks, and answers the question "what is art", in a provocative manner. It's at once beautiful and pretentious, like all good art. We have a poseur extraordinaire: Henry Fool, and an "all too obviously talented" poet: Simon Grimm, using one another, as is the traditional arrangement between the ambitious and the gifted, to advance their own positions in the outer world while learning of their own significance in their own inner world. No punches are pulled, no notoins left unexplored here. This is the workshop: where the real art behind the art is made. Anyone who can't appreciate this is a pseudo/quasi/wanne-be fool of epic porportions and miniscule importance. Okay, that's mean. Sorry. But two words for the person who thought a white working class poet was "unrealistic", and then thought the movie was "pseudo artistic". First, since when does Art have to be realistic? Are you a bolshevik? Second, Have you ever heard of Charles Bukowski? Or Jim Carroll? Or Henry Miller? Jeez, you put pearls before swine and look what happens. Sorry, mean again. And trite too.

Intriguing.
I first saw part of HENRY FOOL on either the Sundance Channel or the Independent Film Channel. I'm not sure what it was, but the filmed sucked me in. There are some scenes that are fairly shocking (Faye and Henry consummanting their relationship as Simon finds his and Faye's mother lying dead in the bathtub). However, the scenes are filmed in such a way that they don't seem as horrifying as they would be in real life. The film addresses some big issues, e.g. what is the nature of an artist?; has a delightful cast, contains some extremely intelligent and witty dialogue; and has a great score.

The best thing I can say about the film is that I hadn't seen the whole movie when I purchased the video and after watching all of HENRY FOOL, decided I liked the movie enough to keep it. ... Read more

Reviews (22)

Should be on a Top-100 List to see
Perfect in it's balance of unnatural dialog and incredible insight into life and relationships, this is a fabulous movie. As surreal and funny as Raising Arizona, Simple Men's subtle humor isn't quite as redundantly over-the-top. If you appreciate dry wit and intelligent rapport, you are in the right vicinity.

Although I love his films, Hartley isn't for everyone. The obscure dialog and sparse camera work is tailored for artistic sensibilities.

Why isn't this film maker famous?
As a film fan with a brand new DVD player, my first priority in begining my movie library was to obtain a copy of 'Simple Men', and another Hal Hartley film, 'The Unbelievable Truth'. I have been unable to track down the latter, but was happy to find more Hartley films available. I believe fans of 'Repo Man' and 'Clerks' would be very pleased with 'Simple Men'. I just hope Hartley's great films make onto the more durable DVD format. Hartley fans need to unite!

poor effort
This is one of Hartley's lesser efforts.
He recycles characters and mannerisms to
the point of tedium. It's too bad
considering his many other fine films.

Amazing
A few years ago I was looking for some movie in TV when in wrong move I put one of this channels you never watch cos the quality of the image is bad and the movies are in my spoken languaje (spanish, I prefer with subtitles). I don't remember what scene but I remember the face of Robert John Burke from Robocop III, talking some very clever dialogues. After just a few minutes I couldn't change the channel till the movie ends leaving me absolutely impress.
Just a few weeks later by the same reason I catch "Trust" and from this same moment I became fan of Hal Hartley.
Why?
Because after years watching more than one hundred different movies of any style and director, Simple men and the rest of the Hartley's work show me another vision of life and another way to make movies, thinking more in a good and very deep script with a few good actors than a good budget with great special effects.
It reminds me the movies of Terrence Malick, because in the chaos of the existence both directors show the path of the real survivors, not those guys who are born to be heroes, just those one only wanna some moment of peace and true love, that's it's more than all the glory of the universe.

Simple Men on DVD
For all you Hal Hartley fans who have desired having a copy of Simple Men on DVD, your time has come. Simple Men will be released on DVD widescreen format January 27, 2004. I can't wait to get my copy!!! ... Read more

Amazon.com

Surviving Desire is actually three short films, two of which--"Theory of Achievement" and "Ambition"--demonstrate writer-director Hal Hartley at his most quirky and abstract. They consist mostly of a series of dialogues, presented out of context, about things like Brooklyn real estate, nonlinear art, and contrasting male and femaleapproaches to suicide. Fans of Hartley will enjoy them; newcomers will probablyfind them baffling. The third film, however--"Surviving Desire," from which the collection takes its title--is one of the most charming pieces Hartley has made. This hour-long story follows Jude (Martin Donovan), a college teacher obsessed with a single paragraph from The Brothers Karamazov, who's fallen in love with Sofie (Mary Ward), one of his students who's writing a short story about him. As the romance plays itself out, philosophical conversations turn into metaphysical Abbott andCostello routines, Jude breaks into spontaneous dance, a rock band in the street serenades a woman in her apartment window--and gradually a rueful and whimsical sense of life and love rises out of Hartley's erratic rhythms. Hartley is an idiosyncratic filmmaker who's not to everyone's taste; this short film is probably an ideal introduction to his work. Some of his movies seem to be working too hard for a sense of poetry and end up feeling stilted, but in "Surviving Desire" all of Hartley's devices take flight. --Bret Fetzer ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Ever Been A Human?
I laughed, I cried, I thought it was and is brilliant. Oh yeah, I fell in love with Martin Donovan. Hal Hartley saw inside my brain with this film. Jude (Donovan as college professor) falls for Sophie (his student), Jude (upset with himself and his life) is irritated with pal Henry for getting kicked out of college and getting "..a job in a bookstore".

Literary references, lust, cool music, spontaneous dancing, woeful action, marriage proposals, reality from the mouth of a homeless woman in red rubber boots... you recognize the characters as more than people like people you once met or now know, you discover yourself. So get it already!

Simply awesome!
The first I watched this film, it created a sensation that could not be matched with other films; Martin Donovan is terrific! Blending a deadpan stylistic along with a creative script, this film is a must!

Poetry Disguised as Film
Poets with an appreciation for life above the poverty line wisely select more frequented media like music, movies, or monology as their vehicle. The life of the most celebrated poets are still awash in Ramen and rent. Hartley's films are dense with pause-rewind-replay a line dialogue almost to a fault. I used to take myself as seriously as Hartley's roster of misfits sporting designer melancholy personas and crippled by philosphical dilemmas that serve as a nappy gnarled dreadlock for the movie to comb out. I loved Hartley's fims in my 20s. Now 39 I revisit with some wincing but not enough for me to change my mind that this and his other films are filled with true human wisdom and many revelations put into words for any willingly troubled liver of a non-illusion buffered life to intend to jot down but not find a pen within reach.

Typical brilliant Hal Hartley
"Survivng Desire", along with the three shorts are some of Hartley's earliest work. But even at this early stage, Harley's gifts are clearly visable. I first saw the shorts some years ago as part of the PBS series "Alive from Off Center" and was mesmerized. Hal Hartley is one of America's truly great directors and his ability to pull such engaging performances out of his cast is a complete pleasure to watch. His style of film making probably most closesly resembles that of Robert Bresson, in its setup and excecution. But Hartley's point of view is totally original and for that, every one of his films has been a completely rewarding experience...

it's all here...
It IS all here.
The be-all end-all "relationship" that we are all programmed and taught and "gened" for in a nutshell.
This film shows the "relationship" as it shuns gravity, takes orbit and then spins off into space.
It is just desire that brings us together after all.
Lust, trust, anger, forgiveness, revenge, and the life after it all (the REAL gravity); this piece of art knows its subjects.
you really have to see this to know you've lived it. ... Read more

Amazon.com

Filmmaker Hal Hartley is something of an acquired taste. But if you can get on his oddball, deadpan wavelength, you can't help but enjoy his films--and this is one of his best. Isabelle Huppert plays a former nun who now works as a pornographer. She connects with Martin Donovan, playing a fellow who's lost his memory, but whose past may contain particularly nasty stuff. As they look for a way to get away from that past (which includes a couple of hit men who look like stockbrokers), the two discuss the meaning of their lives in hilariously vague ways. Hartley's dialogue is tart and concise, filled with acidic but low-key humor. And Donovan, who also starred in the director's equally good Trust, has just the right downbeat affect to give the film an unusual spin. --Marshall Fine ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A Masterpiece
Restraint wrings our emotion. Jumping up and down can express joy, but a perfect ballet segment will convey ecstasy so complete the dance pratically creates it. Subtlety often can explode emotions larger than realism.

Hal Hartley understands this. The characters in his film do not talk like real people. Their speech is subdued, flat, and usually bluntly honest. Their small words carry mountains of meaning.

Most mystery films focus on the identity of the bad guy. This film instead chooses to explore the bad guy's identity. The film opens with him laying unconscious on a cobblestone street. He awakes but has no idea who he is. With this premise, the audience always knows who the bad guy is. He is in almost every frame of the feature. The rest of the film sets about discovering who the bad guy is.

I'm avoiding the film's plot. Telling too much about this film steals many of its pleasures, although I have enjoyed it each of the ten times I have seen it. Most scenes are arranged as artfully as a painting, the actors understand and enlarge Hartley's vision, and the music, ranging from Liz Phair to Pavement, is excellent.

This film may well be the best the ninties have to offer. Hartley's own Simple Men is one of the only other real contenders.

Gets better with repeated viewings
Like all Hal Hartley films (I've seen Flirt and Henry Fool, but neither are as good as Amateur), this is a decidedly odd and mannered movie. The first time I saw it, the far-fetched plot and stilted characterizations are a bit unnerving. This is an ambitious project--Hartley explores the fall of man (an event which literally precedes the film) and original sin in the context of an off-kilter Manhattan thriller. There are some hilariously delivered deadpan one-liners (Martin Donovan: "You're a nyphmomanic and you've never had sex? How could that be?" Isabelle Huppert: "I'm choosy.") But the heart of the movie revolves around the title, and how, try as we might, we cannot escape who we are--Hartley seems to suggest that humanity's flaws are indelible, and despite the guises we might adopt, we are only novices. Amateur ranks low on entertainment value (see Air Force One instead), but a great thinking person's film: brainy, sly, somber, and at times (especially the ending), heartbreaking. Hartley's beguiling screenplay unravels its original insights upon repeated viewings, and it makes the effort worthwhile.

Best Hartley Ever
This is my favorite Hal Hartley film, several of the scenes do not fail to bring a tear to my eye or give me a feeling of frisson and I saw it for the first time in 1995. I think that should say it all.

Purist Hartley fans seem to believe that Trust is the quintessential Hartley, and while I agree that the film is great, Amateur has a much more complicated plot and explores more complicated issues.

The film is all about ontology. What is the nature of being? Can one change? What is memory? Is there an essential nature to existence or is existence mutable depending on experience?

Don't think, however, this is some weird indie/foreign flick heavy on the meaning. Hartley manages to pose all of the above questions within a film that is quirky and funny and deadpan and sad and wonderful all at the same time.

Yes, I know this man.

The mark of Hal (Hartley)
Here's the trademark Hartley quirkiness that fuses bullets with uncertainty, a fried-brain accountant and two sexy women, semi-stagey dialogue and neatly dressed corporate hit men. Here's Parker Posey in a small role, Michael Imperioli (of The Sopranos) in a smaller one, and Martin Donovan as the amnesiac lead male who gets involved with Isabelle Huppert's character, an ex-nun who's turned to writing porno fiction--unfortunately, bad enough to make her publisher reject her work.

And here's Elina Lowensohn as well as a porno actress who wants out of her tawdry (though well-paying) life, whose sad eyes and possible death wish clash with her overly sensuous demeanor. How can all these disparate elements, you ask, ever possibly blend into a whole?

An excellent question. In Hartley's film, they do and they don't. Nobody really knows anything for sure; everyone here is an amateur at life, trying to figure out what to do next--or not knowing how to do anything next. Thomas (Martin Donovan's character) can't remember his name or what he did in the past. Isabelle (Huppert's character) knows intuitively she's linked to Sofia (Elina Lowensohn's role) but she doesn't know how. The accountant, Edward (Damian Young) seems self-assured until he has his brains fried and then he's completely unpredictable.

There's shooting and torture and a little love making. There's uncertainty or puzzlement around every corner. We never really know a whole lot, Hartley's saying, and because of that, you could, in fact, meet a porno-loving ex-nun. You could be an accountant whose neat orderly life is scrambled into violent outbursts and uncontrollable behavior. You could wind up becoming a man who doesn't remember his name and makes some effort to find out what it is, but not enough to discover it.

So is this a coherent film? Hartley is interested more in character than coherence. Structure is not as important as how people actually impact each other, how they impinge on each other's lives. It is, he says, this random colliding of personalities that determines what will happen; people are so complex and so full of possibilities that things just...happen as a result of them being brought together.

Once the viewer accepts this perspective, everything falls into place. Or randomly shifts into place--falling here, rising there, making a jagged turn when you least expect it.

This is less satisfying than Hartley's masterpiece Henry Fool, but it is nevertheless a very intriguing film and definitely worth seeing.

An amateur rewiew
I was channel-surfing when I landed on IFC showing a "comedy-drama" called Amateur. It was nearly an hour in, and there was this scene of these two geeky accountant types arguing about the merits of various cell-phones while using the wires from a floorlamp to electrocute a Christopher Lloyd look-alike. High-concept, but decidedly "B", I thought. But as the movie progressed, I began to notice the deliberation that led to the quirky stagger of the film. The style itself was saying things that the action couldn't begin to convey. This was high art! And it was funny in an intentionally-unintentional way.
The plot, about an ex-nun who now writes bad pornography, a porn queen with a grudge, and an ex-pornongrapher with amnesia, each searching for their identity, is interesting, but it doesn't begin to tell of the impressive stylishness of this movie. Amateur sucks you in like Beckett mixed with "letters to Penthouse", and leaves you satisfied on both accounts. If this sounds good to you, you should check it out. It shows on IFC quite frequently. Oh also, this movie turned me into a freak for Elina Lowensohn. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

...at last, a Hal Hartley feature film on DVD!
When I heard about a year ago that Hal Hartley's "The Unbelievable Truth" is going to be out on DVD in 2001, I feared some low quality production - but this release should prove worthy for this masterpiece. The picture will be 1.85:1 anamorphic and hopefully the image quality is going to be excellent considering Anchor Bay's good reputation... Having been the directorial feature film debut for acclaimed director Hal Hartley, the film does not long for any big extras to be on the disc - an audio commentary would have been illusory - but we do get an interview with Hal, and the theatrical trailer of course. This is definitely a disc to get for all Hal Hartley fans, and the only thing that could make me even happier would be more DVD releases of his movies: Trust, Simple Men, Amateur, Flirt, his short films, etc... I'm desperately waiting!!

The Best Movie My Brother Ever Bought Me
The Unbelievable Truth is the only movie I have ever seen that captures the exact feeling of falling hard in love with someone that you hardly know. Ah, planetary gears and Robert Burke...What's a girl to do?! It's a truly funny film and it turned me into a Hal Hartley [director] fan.

My favorite Hartley Film
If you like Trust and Simple Men then you'll love this film. Personally I love all of Hartley's works, but to me these three films just go so well together. They're all earlier works and in these films you witness an incredibley inspired director do more with a low budget film than most high paid directors could ever dream of doing. I'd also like to say that if you've never seen a Hal Hartley film then this is probably the best point to start out at.

Unbelievable Fun
Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley's early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch. Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career.

Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality (though using sex for several years); obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively - and simultaneously - complex and simple. Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich (e.g., her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot - culminating her doing nude (but unseen) work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc.)

As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance. A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life. Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone ("I'm a mechanic"), yet the symbolism is rich: he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy (is, in fact a virgin), and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well. The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense. Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable. What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is. A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played.

The scene between Josh and Jane (a wonderful, young Edie Falco . . . "You need a woman not a girl") is hilarious . . . real. But Hartley can't leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue over-and-over becomes frustratingly "arty" and annoying . . . until again it becomes hilarious. What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film (like kids in a perpetual "am not"/"are too" argument).

Hartley's weaves all of a small neighborhood's idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the "unbelievable truth" of the title is, yet no two people can agree (including our hero) on what exactly that truth is. A wonderful little movie with some big ideas.

rereleased at last.
As in The Book of Life, Hartley exaggerates the limitations he's given so that they seem like a style. And, they are. Burke isn't the block of wood he seemed to be the first time I saw this, and Adrian Shelley crawls under your skin and lays eggs that hatch days, weeks, and even months later. And the script? Hard to do it justice, but I will say that this is one for repeated viewings. Don't rent it, buy it! You won't be sorry.

Also available on VHS again. Finally. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

...at last, a Hal Hartley feature film on DVD!
When I heard about a year ago that Hal Hartley's "The Unbelievable Truth" is going to be out on DVD in 2001, I feared some low quality production - but this release should prove worthy for this masterpiece. The picture will be 1.85:1 anamorphic and hopefully the image quality is going to be excellent considering Anchor Bay's good reputation... Having been the directorial feature film debut for acclaimed director Hal Hartley, the film does not long for any big extras to be on the disc - an audio commentary would have been illusory - but we do get an interview with Hal, and the theatrical trailer of course. This is definitely a disc to get for all Hal Hartley fans, and the only thing that could make me even happier would be more DVD releases of his movies: Trust, Simple Men, Amateur, Flirt, his short films, etc... I'm desperately waiting!!

The Best Movie My Brother Ever Bought Me
The Unbelievable Truth is the only movie I have ever seen that captures the exact feeling of falling hard in love with someone that you hardly know. Ah, planetary gears and Robert Burke...What's a girl to do?! It's a truly funny film and it turned me into a Hal Hartley [director] fan.

My favorite Hartley Film
If you like Trust and Simple Men then you'll love this film. Personally I love all of Hartley's works, but to me these three films just go so well together. They're all earlier works and in these films you witness an incredibley inspired director do more with a low budget film than most high paid directors could ever dream of doing. I'd also like to say that if you've never seen a Hal Hartley film then this is probably the best point to start out at.

Unbelievable Fun
Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley's early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch. Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career.

Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality (though using sex for several years); obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively - and simultaneously - complex and simple. Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich (e.g., her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot - culminating her doing nude (but unseen) work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc.)

As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance. A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life. Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone ("I'm a mechanic"), yet the symbolism is rich: he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy (is, in fact a virgin), and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well. The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense. Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable. What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is. A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played.

The scene between Josh and Jane (a wonderful, young Edie Falco . . . "You need a woman not a girl") is hilarious . . . real. But Hartley can't leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue over-and-over becomes frustratingly "arty" and annoying . . . until again it becomes hilarious. What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film (like kids in a perpetual "am not"/"are too" argument).

Hartley's weaves all of a small neighborhood's idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the "unbelievable truth" of the title is, yet no two people can agree (including our hero) on what exactly that truth is. A wonderful little movie with some big ideas.

rereleased at last.
As in The Book of Life, Hartley exaggerates the limitations he's given so that they seem like a style. And, they are. Burke isn't the block of wood he seemed to be the first time I saw this, and Adrian Shelley crawls under your skin and lays eggs that hatch days, weeks, and even months later. And the script? Hard to do it justice, but I will say that this is one for repeated viewings. Don't rent it, buy it! You won't be sorry.

Also available on VHS again. Finally. ... Read more

Reviews (15)

A Masterpiece
Restraint wrings our emotion. Jumping up and down can express joy, but a perfect ballet segment will convey ecstasy so complete the dance pratically creates it. Subtlety often can explode emotions larger than realism.

Hal Hartley understands this. The characters in his film do not talk like real people. Their speech is subdued, flat, and usually bluntly honest. Their small words carry mountains of meaning.

Most mystery films focus on the identity of the bad guy. This film instead chooses to explore the bad guy's identity. The film opens with him laying unconscious on a cobblestone street. He awakes but has no idea who he is. With this premise, the audience always knows who the bad guy is. He is in almost every frame of the feature. The rest of the film sets about discovering who the bad guy is.

I'm avoiding the film's plot. Telling too much about this film steals many of its pleasures, although I have enjoyed it each of the ten times I have seen it. Most scenes are arranged as artfully as a painting, the actors understand and enlarge Hartley's vision, and the music, ranging from Liz Phair to Pavement, is excellent.

This film may well be the best the ninties have to offer. Hartley's own Simple Men is one of the only other real contenders.

Gets better with repeated viewings
Like all Hal Hartley films (I've seen Flirt and Henry Fool, but neither are as good as Amateur), this is a decidedly odd and mannered movie. The first time I saw it, the far-fetched plot and stilted characterizations are a bit unnerving. This is an ambitious project--Hartley explores the fall of man (an event which literally precedes the film) and original sin in the context of an off-kilter Manhattan thriller. There are some hilariously delivered deadpan one-liners (Martin Donovan: "You're a nyphmomanic and you've never had sex? How could that be?" Isabelle Huppert: "I'm choosy.") But the heart of the movie revolves around the title, and how, try as we might, we cannot escape who we are--Hartley seems to suggest that humanity's flaws are indelible, and despite the guises we might adopt, we are only novices. Amateur ranks low on entertainment value (see Air Force One instead), but a great thinking person's film: brainy, sly, somber, and at times (especially the ending), heartbreaking. Hartley's beguiling screenplay unravels its original insights upon repeated viewings, and it makes the effort worthwhile.

Best Hartley Ever
This is my favorite Hal Hartley film, several of the scenes do not fail to bring a tear to my eye or give me a feeling of frisson and I saw it for the first time in 1995. I think that should say it all.

Purist Hartley fans seem to believe that Trust is the quintessential Hartley, and while I agree that the film is great, Amateur has a much more complicated plot and explores more complicated issues.

The film is all about ontology. What is the nature of being? Can one change? What is memory? Is there an essential nature to existence or is existence mutable depending on experience?

Don't think, however, this is some weird indie/foreign flick heavy on the meaning. Hartley manages to pose all of the above questions within a film that is quirky and funny and deadpan and sad and wonderful all at the same time.

Yes, I know this man.

The mark of Hal (Hartley)
Here's the trademark Hartley quirkiness that fuses bullets with uncertainty, a fried-brain accountant and two sexy women, semi-stagey dialogue and neatly dressed corporate hit men. Here's Parker Posey in a small role, Michael Imperioli (of The Sopranos) in a smaller one, and Martin Donovan as the amnesiac lead male who gets involved with Isabelle Huppert's character, an ex-nun who's turned to writing porno fiction--unfortunately, bad enough to make her publisher reject her work.

And here's Elina Lowensohn as well as a porno actress who wants out of her tawdry (though well-paying) life, whose sad eyes and possible death wish clash with her overly sensuous demeanor. How can all these disparate elements, you ask, ever possibly blend into a whole?

An excellent question. In Hartley's film, they do and they don't. Nobody really knows anything for sure; everyone here is an amateur at life, trying to figure out what to do next--or not knowing how to do anything next. Thomas (Martin Donovan's character) can't remember his name or what he did in the past. Isabelle (Huppert's character) knows intuitively she's linked to Sofia (Elina Lowensohn's role) but she doesn't know how. The accountant, Edward (Damian Young) seems self-assured until he has his brains fried and then he's completely unpredictable.

There's shooting and torture and a little love making. There's uncertainty or puzzlement around every corner. We never really know a whole lot, Hartley's saying, and because of that, you could, in fact, meet a porno-loving ex-nun. You could be an accountant whose neat orderly life is scrambled into violent outbursts and uncontrollable behavior. You could wind up becoming a man who doesn't remember his name and makes some effort to find out what it is, but not enough to discover it.

So is this a coherent film? Hartley is interested more in character than coherence. Structure is not as important as how people actually impact each other, how they impinge on each other's lives. It is, he says, this random colliding of personalities that determines what will happen; people are so complex and so full of possibilities that things just...happen as a result of them being brought together.

Once the viewer accepts this perspective, everything falls into place. Or randomly shifts into place--falling here, rising there, making a jagged turn when you least expect it.

This is less satisfying than Hartley's masterpiece Henry Fool, but it is nevertheless a very intriguing film and definitely worth seeing.

An amateur rewiew
I was channel-surfing when I landed on IFC showing a "comedy-drama" called Amateur. It was nearly an hour in, and there was this scene of these two geeky accountant types arguing about the merits of various cell-phones while using the wires from a floorlamp to electrocute a Christopher Lloyd look-alike. High-concept, but decidedly "B", I thought. But as the movie progressed, I began to notice the deliberation that led to the quirky stagger of the film. The style itself was saying things that the action couldn't begin to convey. This was high art! And it was funny in an intentionally-unintentional way.
The plot, about an ex-nun who now writes bad pornography, a porn queen with a grudge, and an ex-pornongrapher with amnesia, each searching for their identity, is interesting, but it doesn't begin to tell of the impressive stylishness of this movie. Amateur sucks you in like Beckett mixed with "letters to Penthouse", and leaves you satisfied on both accounts. If this sounds good to you, you should check it out. It shows on IFC quite frequently. Oh also, this movie turned me into a freak for Elina Lowensohn. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

...at last, a Hal Hartley feature film on DVD!
When I heard about a year ago that Hal Hartley's "The Unbelievable Truth" is going to be out on DVD in 2001, I feared some low quality production - but this release should prove worthy for this masterpiece. The picture will be 1.85:1 anamorphic and hopefully the image quality is going to be excellent considering Anchor Bay's good reputation... Having been the directorial feature film debut for acclaimed director Hal Hartley, the film does not long for any big extras to be on the disc - an audio commentary would have been illusory - but we do get an interview with Hal, and the theatrical trailer of course. This is definitely a disc to get for all Hal Hartley fans, and the only thing that could make me even happier would be more DVD releases of his movies: Trust, Simple Men, Amateur, Flirt, his short films, etc... I'm desperately waiting!!

The Best Movie My Brother Ever Bought Me
The Unbelievable Truth is the only movie I have ever seen that captures the exact feeling of falling hard in love with someone that you hardly know. Ah, planetary gears and Robert Burke...What's a girl to do?! It's a truly funny film and it turned me into a Hal Hartley [director] fan.

My favorite Hartley Film
If you like Trust and Simple Men then you'll love this film. Personally I love all of Hartley's works, but to me these three films just go so well together. They're all earlier works and in these films you witness an incredibley inspired director do more with a low budget film than most high paid directors could ever dream of doing. I'd also like to say that if you've never seen a Hal Hartley film then this is probably the best point to start out at.

Unbelievable Fun
Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley's early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch. Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career.

Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality (though using sex for several years); obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively - and simultaneously - complex and simple. Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich (e.g., her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot - culminating her doing nude (but unseen) work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc.)

As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance. A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life. Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone ("I'm a mechanic"), yet the symbolism is rich: he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy (is, in fact a virgin), and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well. The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense. Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable. What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is. A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played.

The scene between Josh and Jane (a wonderful, young Edie Falco . . . "You need a woman not a girl") is hilarious . . . real. But Hartley can't leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue over-and-over becomes frustratingly "arty" and annoying . . . until again it becomes hilarious. What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film (like kids in a perpetual "am not"/"are too" argument).

Hartley's weaves all of a small neighborhood's idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the "unbelievable truth" of the title is, yet no two people can agree (including our hero) on what exactly that truth is. A wonderful little movie with some big ideas.

rereleased at last.
As in The Book of Life, Hartley exaggerates the limitations he's given so that they seem like a style. And, they are. Burke isn't the block of wood he seemed to be the first time I saw this, and Adrian Shelley crawls under your skin and lays eggs that hatch days, weeks, and even months later. And the script? Hard to do it justice, but I will say that this is one for repeated viewings. Don't rent it, buy it! You won't be sorry.

Also available on VHS again. Finally. ... Read more