HENRY FOOL (1997) A Film Review by Ted Prigge Copyright 1999 Ted Prigge
Writer/Director: Hal Hartley Starring: Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak, Parker Posey, Maria Porter, James Saito, Kevin Corrigan, Nicholas Hope, Chuck Montgomery, Camille Paglia
>From what I've seen of Hal Hartley (which is mighty meager: out of about 10 films, I've seen only "Trust"), his films seem to steer deftly away from potential annoying smugness and being like every other quirky, indie film out there. Yes, Hartley suffers from some smugness, mostly due to his fast-paced brand of Hartley-speak, which only a few actors can speak comfortably and convincingly, but he, in an almost ingenius fashion, has created a bizzaro and original world that is still inhabited by characters who seem, shockingly, genuine. What may be annoying to me about certain David Lynch films (save for "Eraserhead" and "Blue Velvet") is nearly the opposite in his films: his characters seem like real people suffering from strange idiosyncrasies and quirks that only add to their humanity instead of detracting from it. He doesn't create random weird characters, existing only for a cheap laugh - he creates funny characters with real problems and who feel basically, more or less, real. And this may be his big detraction when it comes to modern day cult audiences, who have embraced Lynch as a savior of independent film and pretty much shunned Hartley, reducing him to one of those directors who makes films on a regular basis but never obtains more than an elite group of fans who've accidentally stumbled upon his films.
With "Henry Fool," though, he seems to have taken a giant step forward, not only because his film ended up grossing a not-bad sum (of about two or three million dollars, which means it played, if for only a brief amount of time, in my hometown), but because it contains everything I liked about "Trust" and improves on everything else that bugged me. Like "Trust," "Henry Fool" is a bizarre comedy; a strange satire on modern day life. Unlike "Trust," its comedy is more subtle and more tucked away underneath the text, allowing some of the more deeper aspects to rise up and take control. Not to mention, it's a masterfully scripted film that doesn't seem to mind that it's nearly two and a half hours long, allowing itself to unfold its story and its numerous elements in a breezy, unforced manner and then expand on them.
With this film, he's trying new things, like doing away with some of his more perverse dialogue rhythms (like Mamet and Stillman, Hartley has a distinct pattern of writing that is instantly identifiable, and can also sound horrific in the wrong hands), and allowing one of two major characters to be damn near mute and the other to be incredibly verbal. The latter is the eponomys character, Henry (newcomer Thomas Jay Ryan), a bum who's just gotten out of prison, and settles into the basement of the former, Simon (James Urbaniak), a bespeckled, reserved-beyond-astonishment garbageman who lives with his sick, prozac-addicted mother (Maria Porter) and his nymphomaniac sister (Parker Posey), Fay. Henry appears one day out of the blue and begins to mingle with Simon almost immediately, acting like they were chums from way back when. Henry, with a skuzzy look, long brown locks, and deep, dark eyes is a poet who believes that having a job rids one of the time and energy to work on his art, and has long been working on his epic poem, "Confessions," which he is near done with. He speaks in long-winded, complex phrases, and is completely oblivious to the potential effect of his words and actions ("Look, Simon, I just slept with your mother about a half hour ago and I'm beginning to think it wasn't such a good idea.").
He takes Simon under his wing, whether he likes it or not, gives him advice, like "It's good to do something you're ashamed of from time to time," and one day hands him a notebook and tells him to write all his thoughts out on paper. In the morning, he's written an epic poem, apparently without effort, and slowly, he becomes recognized. Henry begins to put excerpts of his poem in the local Chinese deli, and we see how it effects people: at worst, people call it "pornographic;" the opposite, a seemingly mute Chinese woman reads it and begins to sing (wisely, Hartley never shows a smidgeon of the poem - here's to a new McGuffin!). Soon, the poem becomes an international obsession as it's posted on the internet, and conservative and liberal folk are duking it out over the importance of the poem as an artform. Hartley could have very well made this the point of the film, taking grand satirical insights about the world of poetry, the importance of the artist in the world, and various political notions, and to some effect he does (the mere ridiculousness of how Simon becomes so popular so quickly is handled in a subtle fashion, but still comically).
But he really makes it a film about the main characters and how Henry affects them and how others affect Henry. He's full of himself, constantly preparing everyone for how phenomenal his final "Confessions" will be like, but as great as he'll ever become is due mostly to the popularity of Simon and the mere fact that he found him and got him started, since Simon wouldn't have ever gotten farther than life as a garbageman if Henry had never arrived. Simon, as played by Urbaniak, is like that of a weak but untroubled scrawny white guy, with a non-judgmental look always given to everything, and sloppy posture that makes him the immediate target of jokes and beatings. He's never affected by anything, as it seems, and his rampant popularity doesn't seem to enthuse him a bit, at least in comparison to that of Henry, who is not only happy for his friend, but proud that he has great taste.
And with Hartley's slow, reserved pacing, he brings out these elements without bringing too much attention to them, and allows occurances and insights to happen that only deepen the story. Henry ends up having a relationship with Fay, and it goes much farther than one would think at the beginning. And meanwhile, Hartley makes quick asides to social commentary, as when he shows us the character of Warren (Kevin Corrigan, making his indie rounds in this, "Buffalo '66," and "The Slums of Beverly Hills"), a local bully turned right-wing activist turned wife/child beater, who one day scoffs at himself, "The problem with this country is people like me." As with "Trust," all of this seems eerily authentic and real depsite some of the more absurd and comical elements - we care about the characters, and even, in some instances, sympathize with them. But what's so unique about this film, in comparison to "Trust," is this one's more sly and more subtle. It's reserved, distanced tone works nicely with the film, and by showing the contrasts between Henry and Simon, he's showing us infinitely more of his talent for moviemaking. He's making points about society that seem to only add to the overall effect of the film instead of being distracting (let's face it - that is, if you've seen "Trust" - the bit with the lonely woman on the park bench was just time-wasting and you couldn't wait to get back to the main storyline). And his characters, though distanced from us (we can never fully sympathize with Henry's lust for no life nor Simon's total reservation from life), feel more realistic than in the past (probably because we're not being forced to like them completely).
"Henry Fool," for the most part, is my favorite kind of independent film: one that plunges you head-first into a strange world, makes no cheap judgments about what you're seeing, and tells a story in such an entertaining and insightful fashion that you can't help but be swept up in it. Let's just hope that Hartley has learned from this film, and will continue to expand on the newfound successes that come from this source. Maybe sometime in the future, he'll end up making the great film that will finally land him on the map and make other quirky indie directors look like mere hacks. Boy, will that be the day.
MY RATING (out of 4): ***1/2
Homepage at: http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/8335/
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