Hal Hartley: Trouble and Desire

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
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There must be some other Hal Hartley fans on these here boards. I just love the man, but I only know one other person who’s into his films and so I don’t get to talk about them as much as I’d like to. Quite a few friends are into Kevin Smith films, but they’re all weirdly reluctant to watch the films that influenced him. My secret theory is that they’re afraid their lives of Smith-love will be deemed worthless in the face of true mastery.

I first saw Trust two years ago, and although I’ve seen all of his stuff since, I think Trust remains my favourite. A close runner up is Henry Fool and then Simple Men. I could watch them again and again. Especially the dancing scene in Simple Men - for some odd reason that scene draws me back in again and again. I love the dialogue, I love the flow of the speach, I love the jaggedness and the connections, I love the humour and the madness.

So… is anyone with me?

[sub]This has nothing at all todo with the fact that i’m deeply in love with Martin Donovan. Really.[/sub]

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Hal Hartley rules! I haven’t seen Trust or Simple Men or Henry Fool, but I love Amateur and Flirt and The Unbelievable Truth.

And the dance scene in Surviving Desire is a hoot! As is the “marriage” scene between Henry and the homeless woman.

Big Hal Hartley fan. And how do you like Ned Rifle’s scores? Funny, Rifle only seems to compose scores for Hal Hartley films.

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Oh you MUST see Trust and Henry Fool. Martin Donovan and Parker Posey are a brilliant combination.

A little secret – Ned Rifle is another name for…… Hal Hartley. He does his own music too. How cool is that?

4

Francesca:

I knew that, silly! It was a little wink-wink for those in the know.

5

:: bluster bluster ::

I knew that! I was double-bluffing you! Yes I was!

:: slinks away ::

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I first saw Trust while in college many years ago, and it remains a favorite. Up to that point I had not seen anything like it, especially the classic scene of Matthew viceing Ed’s head. My favorite scene, though is when we finally see Maria (Adrian Shelly) without all of that makeup on. Wow. Upon the recomendations of the other posters, I will try to hunt down his other films. Kinda tough finding indie stuff on video 'round these parts, though.

“A family is like a gun, if you point it in the wrong direction, somebody’s going to get hurt.” - Matthew Slaughter (Martin Donovan)

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I like Hal Hartley films as this thread killer will attest to. The notion of “ambiguities” in Hartley films is discussed in an Isabelle Huppert interview on (I think) the videotape of Amateur. I’m not a big fan of actrice fetiche Adrienne Shelley but I really like the idea of a director keeping a team together and making a labour of love. That’s real filmmaking. Jarmusch, Greenaway, Hartley…to steal a line from Henry Miller (in Nexus originally referring to Knut Hamsun), they “never made a dud”.