can we talk about hal hartley?

when I saw Amateur I thought "This Hal Hartley guy is great. I must watch every film of his that comes out".

I have never seen another film by Hal Hartley.

thanks for the detailed reply, mr. LA75. i, too, was a bit disappointed with amateur, at least at first. it really grew on me with subsequent viewings.
i think i was a bit unclear in my initial post. basically, i was asking in my rambling, semi-coherent way if no such thing (his most recent) is any good. so, i will do now what i should have done on thursday and just ask outright what y'all might think of it.

the last feature length film he did was horrible. it was called "no such thing" and i really think it had no redeeming features whatsoever.

'simple men' would be perfect if you cut out the obvious gen-x sonic youth dancing scene and maybe that part where the mechanic riffs on electric guitar.

Henry Fool is my favorite film of his; Epic, intimate, scary and funny all at once.

I don't quite understand the critical beating No Such Thing recieved. It featured some of Hartley's lovliest images. The monlogue delivered by Robert Burke's monster late in the film in which he articulates the misery of being immortal and having to watch the miraculous evolution (and eventual devolution) of the human race was interesting.

gotta be the title

I have to second Henry Fool, one of my all-time favorites. I liked No Such Thing, too, though it was considerably patchier, compared to HF. I remember the music for NST really made it for me, which is something that very rarely happens.

Hartley's production company (his new one) is called Possible Films and their web site is www.possiblefilms.com. Not much info about his next project, called "NOVA," but lots of info about his old films. I saw him speak at a retro in Cambridge, MA a few years ago. He is charming and witty as you might expect.

About ten years ago, Hal Hartley was one of my favorite filmmakers (that would be around the time of Amateur's release). At that time, Trust was (and still is) my favorite with Simple Men, Amateur and Surviving Desire behind that. His recent work has left me cold. Flirt is a failed experiment, and Henry Fool is completely forgettable. No Such Thing is one of the worst films I have ever seen by a director that I previously admired.

Part of the problem that I have with Hartley is that when I first stumbled on his films, I didn't really have as wide a knowledge of film history as I do now. I think it's harder to appreciate Hartley when you see how transparently he rips off early Godard. Also his "romanticism" (if you can call it that since it's fairly stilted) strikes me now as infantile.

He "rips off" Bresson and Ozu and Lang and Malick and Eisenstein and Cassavetes and Dreyer too! I don't see the Godard influence as overweening.

What do you mean by romanticism? What's an example? (I *think* I know what you mean.)

I think Simple Men was his peak. Or at least that's the last film of his that I thought totally succeeded, in it's own stilted, elliptical way. I haven't seen it in years, but I can tell you this, "There is no adventure, there is no romance--there is only trouble and desire."

Henry Fool has some great lines in it.

That line's a paraphrase from Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler.

I did not know that.

"when I saw Amateur I thought "This Hal Hartley guy is great. I must watch every film of his that comes out".
I have never seen another film by Hal Hartley."

Man, that is the same with me. I saw 'Amateur' at a movie series, rented it once to show to someone else and watched it a while back on the IFC. It is quite a funny movie. I really like the 'corporate' hitmen.

I don't understand how Lauren posted the thread in the first place. Did she pause the film to go on ilx and post about it, then start it again? Or did she run to the computer and post that long opening spiel while the film was running, possibly missing some of the dialogue that she considered so amazingly life-affirming?

Things get even worse if we suppose that she did not have the internet at home, and had to go out to a cybercafe, library or similar outlet, while leaving the film running. She could have missed loads of it!

I am not sure that I have seen any of HH's films apart from Henry Fool, which was abysmal.

I kiss you for thinking Henry Fool was abysmal. I couldn't get through it.

I liked The Book Of Life well enough, especially the soundtrack, but I wouldn't want to watch it again. And the Yo La Tengo video he did was rather nice.

Henry Fool was great but the last 30 minutes coulda been lopped off.

The best Hartley is and always will be Trust, which is one of my favorite films.

I think I'm starting to identify the specific tendencies that the pinefox dislikes in many modern independent films.

Thank you.

I saw Flirt the other night!

Anyone like it?

Flirt's the same story told three different times in three different places, right? Yeah that's probably my favorite Hartley (maybe Trust.)

Handful of announcements on the HH site.

Hal's next movie is Fay Grim, a sequel to Henry Fool. The Girl from Monday is available for DVD pre-order, only $12.95 (plus s&h and tax if you're in California). General DVD sale happening, too. Plus, the lucky Aussies get Trust on DVD.

I'm going to have to get an all-region player.

i saw girl from monday on tour. it was cute and pretty, but it rilly highlighted for me the total ineptness of hal hartley in dealing with female characters. i think i asked him a question about the music he composed and he gave some very fascinating answer about how he discovered polyphony like last year and it changed him or such.

The Girl From Monday was pretty weak IMO.

it thankfully was nowhere near the crude politico-satire it was billed as, however. more like that was all backdrop to the real story, which was about ppl. being fucked up and stuff. hartley gets irritating when he does high-concept in general tho. i mean.. Flirt.

In Soviet Russia, Hal Hartley talks about YOU!

R.I.P Adrienne Shelly

so sad :(

http://film.guardian.co.uk/News_Story/Guardian/0,,1942286,00.html

meant to post this on ILE

In brighter news, a sequel to Henry Fool is in the works, strangely enough.

Oh, no!

I believe s1ocki saw, and hated. Stars Parker Posey.