it was the opening night film at the sundance film festival in utah. somewhat not surprisingly it wasn't subject to the same sort of bidding war by studios as other movies at the fest: i mean, what do the suits know, anyway?
my friend dee dee says that it's smart and powerful, & that's good enough for me (the reviews so far have been quite good, too). the scene i've included seems very cool, too. contemporary music, to give it some ooomph, & a you-are-there effect that is difficult to achieve in onscreen recreations of this hugely important past.
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.
