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Having premiered a few months ago at the Toronto film festival, Hal Hartley's somewhat accidental trilogy is now complete. It began with Henry Fool (trailer), Hartley's 1997 opus which was easily the closest he ever got to anything like mainstream success, due to a fairly large marketing push. It remains his most commercially and critically successful film, and some would say it's his best (though "best Hal Hartley film" is a matter of very narrow margins, owing to his style being very distinct and relatively unchanging for the past 24 years). It continued, quite unexpectedly for us Hartley fans, in 2006 with Fay Grim (trailer). While featuring a full returning main cast (including Liam Aiken as Ned, Henry's son), the tone and content of the film was radically different from the previous one. While the plot entirely hinges on certain aspects of the first movie and it does continue the story, it makes the leap from "meditation on the nature of art and artists" to "mythical political comedy-thriller". It's also really good. And now there is Ned Rifle (trailer). All the main players have returned: James Urbaniak (Dr. Venture, other stuff) as Simon Grim, the garbageman that the enigmatic Henry Fool elevated to best-selling poet (and also, for many years, prison inmate). Thomas Jay Ryan (mostly a stage actor) as the man himself, Henry Fool. The films are worth watching just to see him act. Seriously. Liam Aiken as Ned Rifle, Henry's son. "Ned Rifle" has also been the name that Hal Hartley has used as a pseudonym when doing soundtrack work for his own films. Parker Posey as Fay Grim, Simon's sister and Ned's mother. Don't underestimate her. A few old Hartley actors have returned: Martin Donovan (tons of TV and movies and the upcoming Ant-Man) as a priest, perhaps replacing the priest from the first two films. Donovan got his start in Hartley's Trust (1990) and appeared in several other Hartley films, most notably as Jesus Christ opposite Thomas Jay Ryan as Satan in The Book of Life (also starring PJ Harvey as Mary Magdalene; seek it out, it's amazing). Robert John Burke (once played a Robocop, starred in Hartley's debut The Unbelievable Truth and several others, most recently No Such Thing). Bill Sage, another staple of early Hartley films. Also, some new people: Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation, Grumpy Cat Christmas) as a mysterious woman. Lloyd Kaufman -  The film will be released  Spring 2015 through Vimeo on-demand and in a very limited theater run Early reviews are generally calling it his best since Henry Fool, though the press in general has had issues with his output since 2000. I would say he's certainly never made a bad film and the experimental The Girl From Monday and somewhat unconventional No Such Thing rank among his best. And also, and excellent interview with Posey and Thomas Jay Ryan which goes into some plot spoilers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GFgTMsJXf9E precision fucked around with this message at 14:10 on Dec 15, 2014 |
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Dec 15, 2014 14:04
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reserved for write-ups of Hartley's other movies
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Dec 15, 2014 14:04
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Well, now I'm excited! Didn't know this was coming out.  I love most of Hartley's movies. The Unbelievable Truth and Trust are probably my favourites along with Henry Fool. Still sad about what happened to Adrienne Shelly. 
fancyclown fucked around with this message at 20:14 on Dec 22, 2014 |
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Dec 22, 2014 14:41
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I've often thought of doing a Hal Hartley thread, so I was glad to see this one. Pity it doesn't seem to be getting traction, but there you go. I was a huge, HUGE fan of his 90s output - Unbelievable Truth, Simple Men, etc. - so much so that I actually bought the script books and badgered friends into seeing them. (The response: "one of the stupidest things I've ever seen".) But I'm not so enamoured of his output from "Henry Fool" onwards. I always wished it was more like his earlier stuff, which maybe is unrealistic. I pledged for his first Kickstarter, "Meanwhile". It delivered roughly on time and was ... okay? I mean, it was a Hal Hartley film, and he had these ideas about it becoming a TV series but no network would pick it up. And I could see why. It was odd and a bit meandering, and I couldn't really say it was about anything. But the music was cool. Hartley always has great, cool music that has introduced me to so many artists. I've even got several CDs of his.
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Feb 24, 2015 12:45
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