Unlimitedia Sick Product of a Sick System

Nonureva Really Surprised!

Ariella Broughton It is neither dumb nor smart enough to be fun, and spends way too much time with its boring human characters.

Anoushka Slater While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

SnoopyStyle Josh Hutton (Robert John Burke) leaves prison and returns into town. Pearl is shocked by his return. Audry Hugo (Adrienne Shelly) is a depressed cynical teen. She is accepted into Harvard but doesn't see the point of going. Her boyfriend is callous to her concerns. She suggests a mechanics job at her dad's garage to Hutton. Everybody starts to speculate what he actually did.Hal Hartley has written some mannered and artificial dead pan humor. I actually like that but it has to be delivered expertly. The delivery is lacking from most of these actors and the directing is not quite there. I can see good potential for something great. Adrienne is not really young enough for the teen role. Her character could have been written as a twenty something. Overall, this is an interesting indie that could have been more compelling.

Michael Neumann "The world's not going to end when so many people are making so much money!" says a single-minded, suburban blue-collar father to his nihilistic, fashion-model daughter, who would rather contemplate Armageddon than pursue a higher education. The emotional toll of such misplaced priorities is stylishly satirized in director Hal Hartley's debut feature, a small town mock-Gothic parody of skewed personal relationships in the money-hungry 1980s. The setting is ostensibly somewhere on Long Island, but from Hartley's perspective it all takes place in a slightly off-kilter universe, tracing the ripple effect caused by the return home of a handsome, taciturn ex-convict (and mass murderer?) who admits to no ambitions other than the Tao of auto mechanics, the discipline of celibacy, and a profound interest in the life of George Washington. It all adds up to nothing more than a deadpan shaggy dog joke, never going anywhere in particular but finally arriving at just the right destination, with help from some crisscrossing, crazy-yet-formal dialogue reminiscent at times of a Preston Sturges script adapted by Jim Jarmusch.

gpadillo 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.

escoles This was one of the most deeply awful movies I can recall ever seeing. It mixed high-dramaturgy with low production values and a sense of deep self-seriousness that makes it difficult for me to understand why people found it amusing. Poor acting, bad dialog, awkward blocking...where do I stop?And yet, I suppose that a few beers and some good friends could transform it into a bonding experience....