What Makes This Film Great | The Unbelievable Truth (1989)
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- Опубликовано: 8 сен 2024
- Love and crime against a backdrop of nuclear anxiety - we take a look at the debut feature of one of US Indie cinema's more distinct directorial voices - Hal Hartley. Also the debut of the incomparable and tragically short-lived Adrienne Shelly.
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More on the film:
Roger Ebert's original 3-star review (1990): www.rogerebert...
Scott Tobias reviews the film on its 20th birthday for the AV Club (2010): film.avclub.co...
A thoughtful overview of Shelly's life and career on the debut of Waitress as a stage play (2019): www.theguardia...
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Title music: "Adventure"
www.bensound.com
I just caught this last night on the Criterion Channel.
As this was my first foray into his work, I’d be lying if I said HH’s style threw me off at first. But I stuck with it and I warmed to it.
I had recently watched “Eraserhead” and the off-putting dialogue in Lynch’s film felt similar here…weird cadences and unnatural beats in the delivery of lines. I found myself really drawn to it.
I’m happy to find people like you talking about this film still and analyzing it. Makes me appreciate it even more, and I’m excited to watch more HH.
From the time I first saw "Trust" in 1992 I was hooked on HH. The dialogue really is what does it for me.
A comment or two below me states that they learnerd of Hal Hartley "after looking at Kevin Smith's influences for Clerks." I am e re-mix artist and note-to-color music theorist using film to document my work. I, myself, was brought here after learning that Hal Hartley directed the music video for Everything But the Girl's "The Only Living Boy In New York." A video where the duo performs the song, but without opening their mouths, and, instead, moving in a "sign-language" type of way.
My brother and I grew up on an isolated ranch in New Mexico. We learned about the arts thru literature at the school's library and by checking-out films in town at the movie rental store in town. We were limited to whatever selection a small town would carry, but it was enough for my bother and I to form our own opinions about the different artistic statements in film that we were experiencing. But coming from Bent, New Mexico, population 300, it seems that the name Hal Hartley never reached us. Thanks for Everything But the Girl for bringing his name to my attention. Excited to take a break from my videos and go down the rabbit hole of Hal Hartley.
And I'm starting with this film!
Be well!! - _The Acoustic Rabbit Hole_
I found this movie for free on youtube a couple weeks ago and totally fell in love with it, definitely going to check out some more HH after watching this, love the little nuances you captured in this that I hadn't caught!
I love the point you made about the unconventional dialogue striping away the conventional way we think about remorse and fear. What an exceptional analysis of what makes this movie great.
I've just seen this and Truth, and am looking forward to Simple Men, and your other videos about the trio.
Thanks for the kind words! Some of Hartley's slightly later films get even more . . . playful . . . in this regard, most especially "Flirt," which can be hard to find, but is worth a viewing if possible.
Wonderful review and analysis of this Hartley gem. I'd forgotten how much Hartley's films meant to me years ago. Thanks again.
I just watched the film for the first time in I don't know how long. God, it just takes me right back to my early twenties in NY in the nineties. We used to watch it all the time. He was a real favorite of mine. (I think the first one of his I saw in the theater was Amateur.)
This film just makes me feel so much, both in terms of the film itself and also because it's like a time capsule into my youth. And the score. That simple little haunting figure (as when Pearl and Audrey are on the bike). God, just tears my heart out.
Thank you for this.
Learned about Hartley after looking at Kevin Smith’s influences for Clerks. This was the first Hartley film I watched, cause it was free on RUclips, and I absolutely loved it! It really fit well with my taste, especially the way he writes and directs his actors. Really, everything else is perfect too lol
No such thing is outstanding as well
Just found this, great to see someone reviewing my all time favorite movie. Funny I never heard of his 3 movies called the Long Island Trilogy but it makes sense, all 3 are just amazing movies and love watching them often though more The Unbelievable Truth and Simple Men which to me are just flawless from start to end.
I stumbled on The Unbelievable Truth back in the early '00's by accident as I had the IFC channel which showed indy movies and was the only ch I had that showed movies without commercials (at the time). The music hooked me instantly, Adrienne Shelly and Julia McNeal are just flat out some of the most beautiful women I have ever seen and then you have the writing which is so original and the acting is just great. As a kid of the '80's that lived a 2-3 hours south of Long Island back then it just takes me back to a great time.
Hal Hartley is a genius, the music he added in just makes the movie imo, but I love it so much that I at times I will put the DVD in and not hit play and just go to sleep to the music from the movie.
I also wanted to add that I agree on the movie Waitress, I bought the DVD because of Adrienne Shelly mostly but also Nathan Fillion since I support all the actors from the tv show Firefly. I was surprised at how well done it was and thought the whole cast did a great job.
Found your review today. Loved Hal Hartley films when they were released in the late 80s early 90s. The scene at 8:15, Audrey in her room with the sound enhancing her fear of nuclear annihilation, the visuals do it too, the picture of the mushroom cloud on the wall directly over her head. There are also two photos from Hiroshima just to the left of her head. yet the bed and the room are still of something a little girl would have. "Nothing makes it on screen by accident." Thank you for the review!
Thanks for this. I stumbled across a Japanese trailer for this movie ages ago and it made me curious. Loved the soundtrack for it to. I appreciate your commentary here a lot.
Heartly directed a bunch of Red Oaks episode
I just watched this movie and I did not like it at all. However, that's because it's my first time watching Hal Hartley's movies, and I wasn't aware of the social and cinematic situations in the 80s and 90s. Your analysis videos shed some light about the movie for me, but still it's hard for me to appreciate this movie. Thank you tho.
Thanks, glad you found it useful. Hartley can definitely take some getting used to - depending on. your sensibility, his quirky rhythms can grow on you, and there's a lot below the surface. But I get why his films aren't for everybody!
Weird. It’s one of my favourite films. Each to there own. Maybe come back to it in a few years.
@@AaronHunter I feel like he also just captures so perfectly a time and place (viz., late 80's suburban NY) but from the outsider's perspective. I don't know, it's just so perfect. And as I was watching it today I realized the dad is basically channeling Archie Bunker, which I love. There's a real Archie and Gloria dynamic going on.
@@babylonian.captivity Ha ha, love that observation!
I think it's sort of like the way it's difficult for me to get into Rush and Supertramp's acclaimed progressive-rock music. Something about the vibe there that I can't pick up, even though I, myself, am a schooled pianist.
Gary Sauer is one of my favorite actors of all time... shame he hasn't been in more movies. He doesn't even have a WIKI Page. What happened to him?
The copy I got didn't have the repetition scene. Weird.