Hottoceame The Age of Commercialism

Brainsbell The story-telling is good with flashbacks.The film is both funny and heartbreaking. You smile in a scene and get a soulcrushing revelation in the next.

Kirandeep Yoder The joyful confection is coated in a sparkly gloss, bright enough to gleam from the darkest, most cynical corners.

Josephina Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

robert-temple-1 Five years after making his delightful first feature film, THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH (1989), Hal Hartley wrote and directed this rather inferior film, his fifth feature. This film certainly has excellent acting by Martin Donovan, Elina Löwensohn, and Isabelle Huppert. (Donovan is still working with Hartley, and has just appeared in Hartley's latest film NED RIFLE (2014).) But Hartley does not pull off the extremely unpleasant story about some pretty unpleasant people. He goes for comedic effects including holding shots for long enough for us to laugh (hopefully), but he overdoes it and the whole thing does not work. Nor would one necessarily want to know what happens to those people anyway. And I for one certainly did not want to laugh about it, because they are all so disgusting that it simply is not funny. The film starts off with Martin Donovan lying in an alley in New York City, apparently dead. Elina Löwensohn is scampering around his body anxiously and then runs off in fear. Donovan then wakes up and can remember nothing, not even who he is. So far, so good, a promising start to an amnesia story. But then Hartley has ludicrously created a character played by Huppert who is an ex-nun who has left her convent and engages in sex fantasies, claiming to Donovan (whom she befriends) that she is a nymphomaniac who is also a virgin. So far not so good. It is too silly, and Huppert's gloomy expressions and attempts to make her character convincing by means of enigmatic frowns are not successful. Then we discover that the unknown persona of Donovan is not Mr. Nice Guy suffering from memory loss, as we have been led to believe, but instead a Mr. Extremely Nasty who murders and maims people and is involved in prostitution rackets. Charming! So we have a violent nutter who is mixed up with a pious nutter and also with a pornography star who is also a nutter, played by the always-intriguing and alluring Löwensohn whose talents are utterly wasted here. And it is all such a waste of time. Hartley should have torn up the hopeless script and written something worthwhile, but instead he went ahead and shot the damned thing. If we are meant to see anything profound in the resulting mess, I have yet to detect it. Time to move on.

LouE15 Hal Hartley is just my all-out favourite auteur director, brought me through my teens and helped form my world view. When he makes a film you're in for something that is at the very least interesting, and at best, moves you, creates a new world out of the one you're already in, shows you the art in life. That sounds pretentious and some might think his films are too; but that's just the knee-jerk effect that comes with overexposure to rubbish presented as if it's art. But one good Hal Hartley film cures a soul wearied with too much dross. "Amateur" is up there with "Trust" and "The Unbelievable Truth" if you have any time at all for films which are off-kilter, intelligent and which depart from the linear norm. They're also very funny, in a low-key way. His actors are usually regulars, skilled at his unique, poetic and rhythmic script style. His America is intriguing, a place painted with the eye of a true original, and presented with a rigour entirely absent from many more recent so-called independent American films. Another reviewer here noted the strong European flavour in his work; this is quite right; and if you enjoy a varied experience of film I can't see how you wouldn't like his best. The plot of "Amateur" is crazy and contorted, like a dance, with a fascinating premise and a weird logic of its own. Martin Donovan here is Hartley's muse; he perfectly captures the rapid, deadpan delivery and manages to be charming and mysterious, dangerous and vulnerable with minimal changes in expression. Why his career has stayed largely small-scale is beyond me. Perhaps he goes about his work too quietly; perhaps his jaw isn't chiselled enough, I don't know.But Isabelle Huppert is outstanding as the struggling porn writer fresh out of the convent. Says her scumbag-with-a-heart publisher of her attempts: "The problem is, it's quite…bad. It's poetry, and don't you try and deny it." And it is poetry; heartbreakingly so. She looks out at the strange world, uniquely innocent, with her big, solemn eyes, and you instinctively feel with her, and wish her a knight to watch over her. And of course, this being Hal Hartley's world, her protector arrives, uniquely flawed. He could be Grandma; or he could be the Wolf. Excellent, good-looking and intriguing.

delirious_angel Its been a while since I've this movie but its always stayed with me and I would strongly recommend it. This film has Hal Hartley's trademark sparse, artsy atmosphere, with the slightly surreal characters, the staged dialogue and set pieces. All the characters are quirky and memorable, I loved Isabelle Huppert's character - the nymphomanical nun - in particular and the story dissects amnesia in a really interesting way. Above all the central love story will draw you in more than you realise; the ending was both crushing and fitting. This is due to the acting, as every movement and expression helps to build characters and relationships. Isabelle Huppert and Martin Donovan both do this perfectly, and the impact of the ending owes a lot to them. The odd 'staging' of the film may put off those expecting a more conventional thriller but open minded viewers will be rewarded.

cdoggy99 I kept waiting for this movie to make sense at some point, and it never happened. I looked at the IMDB rating hoping to get some kind of an idea how many people saw the film and how many people gave it a rating higher than 7. Boy was I disapointed. What a waste of celluloid!