Hal Hartleyis a unique filmmaker who dominated the indie scene in the1990sand continues to pull off compelling stories to this day. He’s known for his deadpan humor and for frequently working with the same group of actors, though, every now and then, he brings a big movie star along.
Hartley’s style is marked by irreverent characters who often get carried away by existential affairs and the absurdity of life. Fascinated byclassic slice-of-life narratives, the filmmaker often turns the plot of his movies into a mere subtext, letting the characters become the movie itself. It’s almost as if he brought these fictional individuals into life and offered them complete freedom of what the story would be. This formula led to memorable cult classics that shouldn’t be overlooked.
Here are Hal Hartley’s 10 best movies, ranked.
10Ned Rifle (2014)
It’s been 10 years since Hartley released a movie, andNed Rifleis the kind of story that leaves viewers wanting more. In the film, young Ned (Liam Aiken) sets out to kill his father for ruining his mother’s life, but an eccentric young woman (Aubrey Plaza) is determined to get in his way.
Old Director, New Style
Although the movie aims at newcomers, it serves as a loose sequel toHenry FoolandFay Grim.That said,it does a great job of using the influence of the previous movies to establish a new tone to the journey of these characters; mere components of an ever-lasting tragedy. One way to seeNed Rifleis Hartley’s commitment to blending his old self in a new style, as realism gives space to modernism, mixing his most loyal actors with new ones, including Plaza in a delightful dramatic role.Stream on The Criterion Channel
9Henry Fool (1997)
Henry Foolintroduces theworst possible protagonistone could imagine: Henry, an egocentric and highly unreliable rogue who offers himself to help an awkward garbageman and his sister, ruining their lives in the process.
A Breakout Film for Hartley
Henry Foolwas a turning point in Hartley’s career, giving him more recognition and a relevant commercial return — no wonder he decided to make a trilogy out of it. However, it’s also a strange film that orbits around purposefully horrible characters. Henry’s scornful behavior and witty irony add up to a sadistic humor that will certainly win over fans of a good black comedy, but it can also be a deal-breaker for fans of Hartley’s early-90s movies.
8No Such Thing (2001)
No Such Thingis a relentlessly acid look into the well-knownBeauty and the Beasttale, with good hints of sarcasm and existential dread. In the film, Beatrice travels all the way from the U.S. to Iceland just to find out her fiancée was murdered by an immortal monster who longs to die. Against all odds, she decides to help the creature achieve his objective.
Examining Evil at Its Core
Sympathy for the devil as a cinematic expression definesNo Such Thing. Hartley has always been keen on morally ambiguous characters, but this time he really invests all his philosophical insights into dissecting evil to the core. While not necessarily giving his Monster an empathetic look, it explores the creature’s unbeatable pessimism in that melancholic tone that all good jokes deep down have.Stream on Roku
7The Book of Life (1998)
An unsuspecting viewer might stumble upon Hatley’sThe Book of Lifeand assume this is a movie made by someone at the beginning of their career. However, the filmmaker was pretty well-established at the time. The movie’s clumsy-looking imagery is merely a pretext for a story of divine proportions: set on June 27, 2025, themovie follows Jesus, accompanied by Magdalena, struggling with second thoughts about carrying out the prophetical apocalypse.
Ambitious and Mesmerizing
The Book of Lifedeserves merit solely for telling such an ambitious story in this frantic fashion, but it also succeeds in delivering a message that perfectly encapsulates what humanity’s fate has reserved for them. Each dialogue is priceless and charged with genuine concerns about humankind’s propensity to destroy themselves. In this context, what are the divine beings projected by men ought to do?
Though a simple movie in form — set almost entirely in a hotel, the Seventh Seals compressed into a laptop —The Book of Lifelives up to its ambition with a mesmerizing ending that puts at stake questions that will haunt humanity for the years to come. The icing on the cake: PJ Harvey showcasing her acting skills and looking as gorgeous as can be.Stream on The Criterion Channel
6Flirt (1995)
Flirtis andunusual anthology moviethat plays with form and structure by recounting the same story over and over again. Alternating between New York, Berlin, and Tokyo, the movie follows different characters facing the same dilemma of love: should they commit to an old lover or settle with someone else?
Love Stories
Each segment follows the same narrative course and even recycles the same lines of dialogue. It works as a fun mise-en-scène exercise while, simultaneously, exploring the universality of love. Regardless of the place of the language, the uncertainty of love communicates in similar ways. Watch out for that great Hartley cameo in the final segment.Stream on The Criterion Channel
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5Surviving Desire (1992)
Surviving Desireis both a tragedy and a comedy. Half a modernist movie and half a stage play, each character perfectly positioned in the chaos of life. The story is centered around a college professor who develops an inescapable obsession with one of his students, leading up to an existential catharsis.
Martin Donovan Is a Standout
The movie runs for 53 minutes and flies by. It’s the perfect demonstration that Martin Donovan was born to team up with Hartley: there’s music in his line deliveries, and the mix of irony in his romantic stupor is both hilarious and charming.Surviving Desireexplores Hartley’s passion for monologs while also making fun of it; often in the movie the characters engage in complex confabulations, and forget they are actually speaking to someone else.Stream on The Criterion Channel
4The Unbelievable Truth (1989)
Released in 1989,The Unbelievable Truthwas Hartley’s debut feature and already showcased all of his unique mannerisms. In the film, Josh is fresh out of prison after serving time for murder and decides to return to his hometown. There, he’s welcomed with a mix of reluctance and warmth, since no one can remember exactly what he did, until he strikes up an unusual friendship with an eccentric teenager.
Feels Like a Miniseries
The Unbelievable Truthplays out like an entire miniseries inunder 90 minutes. The range of characters is fascinating, and each of them gets their chance to shine onscreen and tell their story. The small-town-big-secrets trope often alternates between a general air of malaise that sends characters in a frenzy and a compelling sensibility on the subject of second chances, resulting in a moving story about starting anew.Stream on The Criterion Channel
3Simple Men (1992)
InSimple Men, two brothers who are polar opposites of one another reunite to find their fugitive father: Bill is a relentless womanizer with a criminal background. Dennis is a shy young man with an intellectual aptitude. The movie sets out to be an unconventional road movie but spends more time at the rest stops than on the actual road.
Inspired by the French New Wave
A contender for having one of thebest dance scenesin movie history,Simple Menis the Hartley movie that most blatantly calls up influences from the French New Wave, directly paying tribute to Godard’sBande à part.Although the movie sets a clear objective for these characters, it barely has any plot. It’s mostly about the day-to-day places that make a huge impression on us, or the small interactions that gently change us for the best, and that’s beautiful. In addition, few ending scenes hit as hard as that ofSimple Men.Stream on The Criterion Channel
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2Amateur (1994)
Amateurhighlights Hartley’s modernist tendencies while simultaneously flirting with the extraordinary. The movie follows an amnesiac man who strikes up a friendship with a failed erotic writer. Together, they unite forces to dig up the past of this man, stumbling upon a darkly absurd conspiracy. Every single character inAmateurfeels like a caricature of themselves, trying really hard to live up to the image they’re determined to convey: there’s the ex-nun who wants to write pornography, the unscrupulous criminal who loses his memory, and the porn actress with a soft spot for violence.
Deconstruction of the Melodrama
Once the idiosyncrasies of these characters finally clash, the overdramatization of the chaos that ensues is basically Hartley deconstructing every characteristic of a melodrama and bending them to his will.Amateurborders a meta-narrative, and embraces the absurd as a powerful weapon: it helps that the star-studded cast is so in sync with each other, though Isabelle Huppert is an obvious MVP.Stream on The Criterion Channel
1Trust (1990)
Nothing in Hartley’s career can quite matchthe off-the-charts chemistrybetween Martin Donovan and Adrienne Shelly inTrust, a movie about love in the face of a collapsing world. The film follows a pregnant high school dropout and a pensive repairman, who bond in atypical circumstances, drastically transforming the lives of those around them and their own.
A Definitive Romance Movie
Trustis one of the defining romance movies about complete strangers finding comfort in each other. The clash of generations exposes different layers of the hopelessness that takes over the world, from talents going to waste in an economic crisis to rotting family values destroying households. Amid ruin and ashes,Trustis determined to find out what love really is, and whether a sense of mutual respect, admiration, and trust is enough to endure the uncertainty of the future.Stream on The Criterion Channel
