A large number of Rober Academy members seem to be ecstatic with the news of a new Hal Hartley movie. It’s been a decade since Hartley, one of the Academy’s favourite directors, known by his peculiar laconic style and coldly executed moral reflections, released his latest acclaimed movie “Henry Fool”. Since then, his career went somehow erratic with only a few short and medium length films released –the most noteworthy of them was “The Book Of Life”(1988), notable for dealing with Religion and dogma, and for being the big screen debut of Rober Awards’ multiple winner PJ Harvey-; with the exception of “No such Thing”, shot in Iceland and “The Girl from Mondays”. None of them gained enough critical favour as to guarantee their international release.
Things may be about to change with the arrival of “Fay Grim”, named after Henry Fool wife’s character and intended as a sort of follow-up, played again by the criminally underrated Parker Posey. James Urbaniak, Jeff Goldblum and Saffron Burroughs also appear. It deals with very different moral (and political) issues aiming to reflect the way the world has changed over this decade, turning Fay Grim into a spy, after certain revelations about Henry’s life came to light. It sounds like an author both visiting familiar territory and venturing into new ground at the same time. US reviews are excellent and we are all hoping this will be the return to form and to our screens we have been sorely waiting for too long.