I've seen Trust, Amateur and The Book of Life. In those films I loved the honesty, the weird sense of humor, and characters that seemed detached yet interesting. You won't find any of that in this one. My God what a disappointment. The plot was dull and slow, the characters annoying at their best, disgusting at their worst. When the film finally ended - it felt like it lasted a lifetime - I felt sorry for the time I wasted watching it. Yuck.
shareWow, I think this is one of the greatest movies...a masterpiece. Great look at what is/what isn't art and the role of the artist in today's world. Great characters, storyline, everything. Also one of the best open-ended endings ever.
shareThis movie hit me like a freight train. I've seen it many times and I love it. I won't rip the original poster for being dumb, I just think this movie wasn't made for everyone.
shareyou can't argue about taste.
shareIs it possible that the people who like this movie just haven't seen another Hartley film? I've seen a lot of them, and I agree with the original poster. I didn't like this one. See Trust for a really brilliant Hartley film.
shareI am afraid I agree with the poster too. In fact, I just finished the movie and I came on IMDb to hear what other people thought. Why is the acting so flat and emotionless? Why do the actors talk to the back of each other's heads like in soap opera? Why is the dialogue so over the top pontificating? (I have not seen other movies by this director.)
shareClearly, you don't know Hartley.
shareyes you can.
shareI honestly and truly feel this movie is a masterpiece. A work of art. One of my top/favorite films of all time. The story is epic and yet small and intimate. There's something like 9 turning points in the movie. It's laugh out loud funny. And the ending brings tears to my eyes.
Certainly, not for everybody. It's a strange brew, and I understand how some would be turned off by this flick. But beauty is in the eye of the beholder, eh?
Really? Truly? You'd put this film in the same class as the all-time classics? This film does NOTHING original. It breaks zero new ground. The story aspires to be somehow 'Shakespearian' (how original is that?). The acting is competent, at best. The dialogue is beyond boring. Hartley is a mess of a director. And when he vomits on the woman, I just about did the same. What a horrible idea, and how disgusting for the actress. Parker Posey is too good for such wannbe arthouse crud as this.
shareWhat I find interesting is the eerie similarity between people's reactions to the movie and the reactions characters have of Simon's poem in the film - they either love it or hate it (and think parts of it "scatological," to quote the movie). I happen to be in the former camp as well and think this movie is fantastic. Some of my other favorite films are Apocalypse Now, 2001, Goodfellas and Being There. Although of a much lower budget than any of those films, I feel Henry Fool has the same epic feel and intelligence to it.
shareA crude masterpiece?
I was disgusted by some of the film, but some of it was just hilarious. I loved when Henry's in the library and he says, "This place is crawling with chicks."
I like how he discovers Simon, offers him some writing advice, thinks extremely highly of himself, but has zero talent of his own.
Yeah, the puking was kind of gross, and the "proposal" was too, but when I watched it with a friend of mine he thought it was hilarious, and he's usually much more offended by things than I am.
http://www.amazon.com/The-Sky-Sea-Poetry-Prose/dp/1481766449/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1380162609&sr=8-