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Hartley’s outlook anything but "Grim"
May 29, 2007

Filmmaker Hal Hartley became an indie cult figure because his deadpan humorous dialogue and quirky but touching take on romance was uniquely his own. He has remained distinctly “off-Hollywood” since his

first feature, The Unbelievable Truth (1989), and has acquired funding from numerous sources in order to retain “final cut”: indie production companies, foreign producers, PBS, foreign TV and now HDNet, a network targeted to high-def TV viewers.

Hartley’s latest film, Fay Grim, is a day-and-date title that opened theatrically in 25 cities on May 18^th and debuted on HDNet the same day; the DVD from Magnolia Pictures streets on May 22^nd. Fay is a sequel to Hartley’s 1997 film Henry Fool that finds Parker Posey in the starring role of a single mom drawn into a comic web of intrigue.

Hartley sounded assured about the day and date process when I spoke to him shortly before the film’s NYC theatrical opening: “It’s been done six or seven times and has proven to be pretty profitable, which is the whole point. If the distributors are achieving profitability, that’s good for people like me… it means that my films are getting out there.”

The first film to go this route, Steven Soderbergh’s Bubble, attracted attention and some animosity from the arthouse-owners who had booked the film. Hartley says, “Steve took it on the chin for the rest of us.... It turned out that the theaters didn’t make any less money — people still did go to the theaters, others saw

it on HDNet, and others rented it on DVD.” Hartley views the new methods of “delivery” of a film as part of the filmmaking process. “As technology changes,” he observed, “how we look at films will change. Film is a very new medium. We’ve only been doing this for a hundred years — it’s constantly changing.”

Although enthusiastic about the releases of his films on DVD, Hartley has yet to contribute a director commentary track, choosing instead to have his say solely in the making-of featurettes that accompany his films. When I asked him about the audio commentary phenomenon, the very low-key filmmaker responded in a surprisingly firm manner: “I don’t find those things he interesting. People say the normal things, they’re not saying anything I don’t know already. For the most part, it’s just people goofing around. [Filmmakers and actors] are much funnier when they’ve crafted their goofiness into really well-made entertainment, so I don’t really want to see them doing it in their off-hours.”

Longtime fans of Hartley’s work also have become aware of certain “holes” in his DVD catalogue, including his well-beloved Trust (1990) starring the late Adrienne Shelly. Hartley delivered the bad news: “Here in the U.S., films like Trust and Flirt (1995) may never be released on DVD. The company that had the rights went out of business, another company bought their library and there are legal problems…”

To compensate, Hartley says viewers can visit his site www.possiblefilms.com where he links to a West Coast retailer, www.microcinema.com that offers the European DVD releases of his “missing” titles. Says, Hartley, “You have to think globally. If you’re a film fan, it’s very simple and affordable to get an all-region DVD player. There’s absolutely no reason not to now.”--Ed Grant

Posted by Laurence Lerman on May 29, 2007 | Comments (0)