No Such Thing
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Movie Reviews of No Such Thing
Movie Review: One of the oddest films I've ever seen
Summary: 5 Stars
The main character, Beatrice, is a saint in the making.
Early in the film we learn that a monster has killed her 'fiance' Jim, and two other journalists, in Iceland. The fact that he was her fiance is our clue that she's still innocent, pure.
She volunteers to go and investigate, meets resistance because she's so young, but prevails.
We find out that her mother has recently died, and she has no other family. This establishes her as free of normal human connections, as a saint should be.
Setting out, she can't get a cab because of a bomb scare at the airport; she can't take the subway because of a nerve gas attack. She gets a ride in the back of a truck belonging to men who destroy things for a living - demolitions experts.
Her plane crashes into the ocean and she's the only survivor. She's rescued by a fishing boat and ends up in a hospital in Iceland, which was her destination.
You see, NOTHING can stop her.
It's pointed out to her that she has nothing - but she refuses money for the story of the plane crash, how the other passengers behaved, 'who was brave, who was a coward'. 'They were people', she tells her boss. And she's a saint, so she doesn't need money.
She's given a choice: have an agonizing operation or remain crippled. Of course she chooses the operation, so that she can carry out her mission.
During the surgery we see her doctor wincing and covering her ears in response to Beatrice's screams (covered by the soundtrack).
When she's up and about she dumps her walker for a cane, and as her doctor drives her north the next day, in search of the monster, she ditches the cane at a cafe along the road.
By the time the road runs out she's able to mount a horse and ride into the mountains. She's fully healed.
The residents of a village who've been paying tribute to the monster drug her and leave her unconscious, wrapped in a shroud, as an offering to the monster. He won't hurt her.
He proves to her that he killed her fiance; she cries but won't get angry at him.
In an act of saintly forgiveness, she brings him back to New York to search for Dr Artaud, the one man who can kill him (his wish is to die).
I won't go on. The movie is a fairy tale, religious allegory, and satire, rolled together.
The first time I saw it I turned the CD off in disgust. Then I couldn't stop thinking about it... I went back to it and saw what I'd missed... this film should become a cult classic.
Movie Review: Love him or hate him
Summary: 5 Stars
There really isn't any middle ground with Hartley. The best parts of Lynch and Mamet combined in one strange intelligent package. People either love him or hate him, both with good reason.No Such Thing closely follows the rythm and pacing of Hartley's Amateur, itself an almost perfect film in my opinion. You will not find traditional Hollywood motifs in this movie (or his others). The setups and payoffs are subtle. The emotions are often conveyed through a word or a glance, as opposed to a bullhorn directed at the audience. Subtlety over brute force is his preferred approach.
No Such Thing contains many levels of myth, fable and parable. From the obvious references to such classics as The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast (NOT the Disney versions), to more esoteric nods, this film delivers in ways that most others simple could not. Watching Hellen Mirren's character transform before us in the blink of an eye in such a believeable way was breathtaking. There was no rousing score directing the viewer towards the appropriate emotional conclusion. There was no arrogant buildup of camera work, no amazingly contrived series of scenes leading the viewer like crumbs of bread. Some people enjoy being led along and enjoy being rewarded for picking up on the "subtle" clues left in typical movies. They will starve here.
Although I am a huge fan of Hartley's work, I'll be the first to admit that he's not for everyone. It's no surprise at all to me that the critics didn't love the movie, it's very difficult to compartmentalize it in a neat and orderly fashion when you have to sit through five movies a day and regurgitate one-line reviews. And it's no surprise that a lot of viewers didn't like it. Where's the special effects? Where's the machine-gun chattering dialogue? Where's the over-the-top violence and cmaera work of today's Hollywood blockbusters? All are absent, and if that's what you like you'll be sorely disappointed with this. There are a mind-numbingly huge number of movies out there that follow the mould, people shouldn't have trouble finding something they like, but there are prescious few films out there like Hartley's. Maybe that's a good thing, they are all the more appreciated by those who enjoy them.
If you found Twin Peaks to be unfathomably boring and The Spanish Prisoner to be rudely unintelligible, stay away from Hartley. If you're looking for a movie that will set you free from the conventional restraints of Hollywood dreck, look no further.
Movie Review: "I'm Not The Monster I Used To Be" ~ The Dissolution Of The Sacred
Summary: 5 Stars
According to Plutarch (CE 45-125) the great Goat-God "Pan is Dead," dying just as the Christian faith was taking hold in the Mediterranean world, a classic case of out with the old and in with the new. However what if Plutarch was wrong, what if Pan hadn't died but lived on through the centuries. What if this primal, rural deity remained in the shadows of history quietly observing the advancement of mankind through the ages. What would he think of seeing his beloved wilderness landscape slowly devoured and replaced by large, congested urban centers. Would he be forced into a nomadic existence forever looking for a place of solitude away from the ever curious world of men. If he was seen on occasion would he be revered as in old as a God, or despised and perceived as a monster? What if Pan really did exist?
Interesting premise don't you think? Well this is the situation and just some of the questions dealt with in Hal Hartley's amazing dark comedy `No Such Thing' (`01). OK, I admit the film doesn't actually refer to this horned and hairy monster as the legendary Pan but the resemblance is strong and there are definitely subtle implications in the script supporting this view. Anyway, a satyr-like creature is discovered alive and hiding out in a remote region of Iceland. He is isolated, depressed, alcoholic and suicidal. The monster laments, "I see extinction in everything around me." He's convinced that only dying can solve his problem. But he can't, he's immortal. This disenfranchised pagan deity now spends his time drinking and terrorizing a nearby village whenever his anger at mankind becomes too much to bear. All seems hopeless until Beatrice a young American journalist convinces him to accompany her back to the U.S.A., giving her the story of the century and providing him with his one and only chance for extinction.
`No Such Thing' is one of the most original, off-beat and quirky films you'll ever come across. Hartley's dialogue ranges from inventive to absurd, but always meaningful and layered. Robert John Burke is brilliant as the potty-mouthed Satyr and Sarah Polley is a perfect choice for the clueless Beatrice. If you're looking for something totally different from the everyday here it is!
Movie Review: subtext
Summary: 5 Stars
Hard to believe that most people don't get the subtext. I can't for sure say what the writer(s) had in mind, but there are a few unquestionable facts running underneath the movie that it wouldn't take a detective to sniff out. First off, google Antonin Artaud, or read Susan Sontag's essay about his life and work. That the writer(s) chose give this name to the character in the film who is "crazy as a loon" is pretty near the height of "black humor". Secondly, put together everything Artaud says,especially his talk at the bar with Beatrice and at the end in the monster's lair. Combine Helen Mirriam's chat with the scientist. Add the monster's monolague in the hotel room. What you have is unquestionablly a version of Henri Bergson's philosophy has expressed in his masterfull work "Matter and Memory". So in my mind, the final scene/ending and the movie itself only becomes intelligable within this context. More than likely a myth on the order of the Greek fable of Psyche/Eros. A love story expressing the relationship between Spirit and Matter. Side note: when Artaud says that the chambermaid let him out of his room because he said rude things to her, FUNNY AS HELL.Movie Review: Unique, engaging, and fresh approach to the "Grendel" story
Summary: 5 Stars
I have to disagree with kathryn and the other reviewers. Hartley films are often baffling, if only because his dialog and staging is so clearly an artifice. Strip away the "Hartley touch," here, and you get a really striking hit and run satire on the nature of mythic "monster" against contemporary terrorism, mindless media, and soul-sucking heartlessness. Take the mythic monster, based I suppose on John Gardiner's Grendel and others, give him a voice and perspective that is both familiar and strange, and then take him to New York to be a media darling. Laughable material in another's hands, but Hartley carries you along, and suspends belief for the length. Polley and Burke are great, Mirren and Christie ... well, I'd watch a film of either of them just sitting and eating spaghetti. Here, Mirren is incredible. Too bad Julie Christie isn't given more to do.... But after watching this twice in as many months, I'm ready to buy it. It's just that good a film. Your mileage may vary. But take a chance on it. Turn the lights low, pop some popcorn, and settle back in a truly unique "monster movie." ;)