Fay Grim
When I’m watching films by Hal Hartley I get two impressions that could possibly explain what I’m seeing. The first is that either he doesn’t have a clear enough vision to put his ideas on film. The second is that maybe his confidence overwhelms his abilities. Either way we end up at the same conclusion. Suffice it to say I’m not one of Hartley’s biggest fans.
Years after first meeting Henry Fool (Thomas Jay Ryan), Fay Grim (Posey) is single handedly raising their now fourteen year old child. With the help of Fay’s brother Simon (James Urbaniak), Henry has slipped out of the country. Unfortunately Simon was picked up for aiding him and is serving a ten year jail sentence. While there he begins to suspect that Henry may have been more then he seemed. His suspicions are proven correct when CIA agent Fulbright (Goldblum) shows up at her door. He’s looking for Henry’s journals and enlists her help in tracking them down in Paris.
I love both Parker Posey and Jeff Goldblum, but to see them have to muddle around in Fay Grim is just taxing to watch. I know they are playing things for laughs, but it’s hard for that to come through when the direction isn’t suited for it. Posey does sort of that thing she’s mastered in Christopher Guest’s film, while Goldblum just Goldblums it up. It’s unfortunate that two good performances get totally lost in this film.
Seeing as how Hal Hartley both wrote and directed Fay Grim, there is no one to blame for it other than him. This movie falls somewhere between a bad student film and community theater. What kills me is that this isn’t a mater of this being a little indie with no budget, this is just a film that is fundamentally flawed both stylistically and technically. Seriously, is there an angle in this film that isn’t canted? As a joke it is neither clever nor humorous and wears thin quickly. And if it meant to be taken at face value then it’s reminiscent of the camera work in Battlefield Earth. Either Hartley can’t really get a grasp on a style or he’s adding these unnecessary shots as an attempt to cover up a lack of substance. Frankly, I think it’s a little of both.
What I find maddening is that this is a sequel to Henry Fool. To be completely honest had that not been the case I would have just passed Fay Grim by. Seriously, how do have a sequel to Henry Fool, much less one that is about international espionage? That’s the thing, Fay Grim is just so damn arbitrary. Wasn’t part of the point of the original that Henry was just so inexplicably enigmatic. There’s no indication that he has any interest or was involved in anything like the things that are described here. It almost seems as though Hartley wanted to make a film about a current issues, but felt the need to ground it in familiar territory.
If any member of general public stumbles across Fay Grim without any previous knowledge of Hal Hartley or his work, I guarantee you they’ll be thoroughly confused. Maybe he’s trying to make a point about the ridiculous amount of sequels the studios make while skewering over the top spy films, but that could just as easily be making excuses for a terrible film. With everything being lit like a commercial, terrible audio, bizarrely unnecessary camera work and some of the clunkiest dialog ever put to screen whatever point, if any, is lost. I know he’s sort of an indie darling, but you have to step back and look at this mess (or The Girl From Monday for that matter) and think that maybe Hal Hartley doesn’t have as skilled a hand as you thought.
The Grade
- Story: D
- Acting: B
- Visuals: D
- Originality: D
- Enjoyability: C-
- Overall: D
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