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Simple Men [1992] (REGION 1) (NTSC)
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Editorial
Amazon.co.uk Review
Simple Men opens with small-time hood Bill (Robert Burke from RoboCop 3) asking a bound and blindfolded security guard if he can have the guard's Virgin Mary medallion; "Be good to her and she'll be good to you", says the guard. Immediately after, Bill is double-crossed by his girlfriend and his partner. From there, the plot goes off in a completely different direction: Bill and his younger brother Dennis (William Sage, High Art), a philosophy student, go off in search of their father, a former star shortstop who may have committed a bombing many years ago. Their only clue is a phone number on Long Island; they end up at a cafe run by Kate (Karen Sillas, Female Perversions), which is also the hang-out for Elina Loewensohn (Nadja) and Martin Donovan (Hollow Reed, The Opposite of Sex). Plot is never the point in Hal Hartley movies (Trust, Amateur, Henry Fool); it's just a clothesline on which to hang odd, quirky scenes--moments like Donovan and Sage trying to imitate Loewensohn's dance movements to a Sonic Youth song or a half-drunken conversation about pop music and self-exploitation. Hartley's deliberately stilted dialogue and stylised performances actually play better on video; the movie feels more intimate, making the humour more relaxed and fluid. Hartley is the kind of idiosyncratic filmmaker who provokes love-him-or-hate-him responses, but there's a deep sincerity to his artifices that goes beyond mere posing. Against all commercial wisdom, he's struggling to find his own cinematic poetry. Such an uncommon aspiration is worth checking out. --Bret Fetzer
Excellent early Hartley's film
Review date: 2003-09-19 Rating: 8 out of 10
My second best Hartley's film. A bit more professional in the making than the Unbelievable Truth, though maybe it lacks the immense freshness of the Hartley's very first film. Hence the 4 stars, not 5.
Anyway, really worth it, nothing to do with his pseudo-sophisticated and boring later films like Amateur.
When does it come out on DVD? (Hint!)
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Reviews
excellent
Review date: 2000-03-15 Rating: 10 out of 10
Concerning the adventures of two brothers in search of their renegade, anarchist terrorist, all-star shortstop dad in Long Island. ("It's not an Island, it's a terminal murain... the land left over when ice recedes," one casually observes.) Features an odd, if entrirely characteristic, dance sequence to Sonic Youth's "Kool Thing" and Martin Donovan's ode to Hot f**cking Tuna. Entirely essential for fans of the director; others may be baffled.
Product Details/Specifications
Actor(s):
Martin Donovan
Robert John Burke
Karen Sillas
Bill Sage
Elina Löwensohn
Creators:
Bill Sage (Primary Contributor)
Robert John Burke (Primary Contributor)
Michael Spiller (Cinematographer)
Hal Hartley (Producer)
Hal Hartley (Writer)
Steve Hamilton (Editor)
Bruce Weiss (Producer)
Jerome Brownstein (Producer)
Director(s):
Recording label: Image Entertainment
Manufacturer: Image Entertainment
EAN: 0014381195729
Binding: DVD
Number of items: 1
Format: Anamorphic, Colour, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, DVD-Video, NTSC, Widescreen,
Release date: 2004-01-27
Universal product code (UPC): 014381195729
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Region code: 1
Running time: 105 minutes
Theatrical release date: 1992
Language: English (Original Language)