on adrienne shelly, hal hartley, & 'fay grim'

the death of actor/writer/director adrienne shelly, someone born within 2 months of me, has affected me like few others in recent memory.

for one thing, it got me thinking a lot about her 1st 2 movies with writer/director hal hartley, a fellow new yorker: the unbelievable truth (1989) & trust (1990). working steadily outside of the indie film spotlight for a while, shelly had a role in the new adaptation of a charles bukowski novel, factotum (2005), with matt dillon, lili taylor, & marisa tomei, and had submitted a feature that she wrote & directed to the sundance film festival, called waitress (2006).

adrienne's death was so sudden, shocking, & unnecessary. it's senselessness has gotten under my skin & i just can't shake it yet.

i've blogged about shelly's murder elsewhere, & the tragedy of it all recently got me to dig up a vhs copy of trust & to find out more about the latest exploits of cult filmmaker hartley.


hal hartley has a new feature, fay grim (2006), starting to make the festival rounds. it stars the always terrific parker posey in the lead role & is a sequel to hartley's most accomplished film to date, henry fool (1997). it seems to combine elements of melodrama & espionage thrillers, among other things: what better ground to cover during this age of the 'homeland security' state run amuck?

i had forgotten just how tragic hartley's stories & characters can be. it's just that he leavens these tales so brilliantly. he's an under-sung force in american independent cinema that even i had taken leave of for a while (a few misfires, like no such thing [2001] or flirt [1995], sort of made me lose interest in his exploits). but, as the people behind the toronto international film festival can attest to,

Hal Hartley has had a profound and rarely acknowledged impact on American cinema. His films reclaim the wit of classical Hollywood comedy and film noir, while putting forward an American take on Jean-Luc Godard's ironic playfulness with genre. This synthesis still resonates throughout American film comedy; recent hits like Little Miss Sunshine and Thank You for Smoking owe much to his trailblazing efforts.

i recently discovered this short tribute/montage on youtube & just wanted to post it here by way of a sort of introduction to/"retrospective" of hartley's work, & in anticipation of the hoped-for wide release of fay grim.



also, i see this as an opportunity to again commemorate the life & work of hartley collaborator adrienne shelly. her passing is going to take me a long time to come to terms with, if ever.

shelly's husband, andy ostroy, has started the adrienne shelly foundation, in her memory. according to wikipedia.org, "plans [for the foundation] include a Womens’ Filmmaking Scholarship Fund, with a particular emphasis on awarding film school scholarships and helping women make the transition from acting to directing."



adrienne (levine) shelly (1966-2006), rest in peace.