Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Simple Men

Robert Burke and Bill Sage are looking for their dad. So is Elina Löwensohn. Martin Donovan has a crush on Karen Sillas. Written and directed by Hal Hartley.

Is this Hartley's funniest film? Hot fucking tuna. Why do women exist? Why is that one scene with the hand against the window so memorable? It took a couple of viewings before I realized that the dad in this film and the one in Trust is played by the same actor. There's not enough slapping in films these days. There's nothing but trouble and desire. I can't stand the quiet! You're drunk. And emotional! You can have what you want or what you need, but you can't have both. Don't move.

4 comments:

  1. "And the funny thing is, when you desire something you immediately get into trouble. And when you're in trouble you don't desire anything at all."

    ReplyDelete
  2. I discovered Hal Hartley recently, and I've only seen "The Unbelievable Truth", "Trust" and "Simple Men". I think these three films make me crazy and I can't to say which is my favorite. Now I can't to wait for see more Hartley's films, but at same time, I'm afraid that their latest films disappoint me.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes, those are his best films. The later ones can be a bit uneven. If I had to choose a favourite, it would probably be Trust, mostly because that was the first Hartley film I ever saw.

    ReplyDelete