Directed by Hal Hartley
17 Episodes
Hal Hartley is a true independent, boasting one of the most idiosyncratic bodies of work in all of contemporary cinema. First emerging in the late 1980s and early ’90s with a fully formed sensibility on display in the barbed romantic comedies THE UNBELIEVABLE TRUTH and TRUST, he quickly became one of the most acclaimed voices on the indie circuit. But while many of his peers moved toward the mainstream, Hartley continued to cultivate his own decidedly personal methods. Marked by their deadpan wit, formal rigor, underground-rock soundtracks (featuring Yo La Tengo and Sonic Youth as well as the director’s own compositions) and offbeat performances (from rising stars such as Adrienne Shelly, Parker Posey, Edie Falco, Martin Donovan, and Elina Löwensohn), his films are unmistakably his, preternaturally attuned to language, behavior, and the dynamics between his vividly drawn characters. This comprehensive retrospective offers a chance to immerse yourself in the droll, effortlessly cool, bracingly humanist work of an artist in a league of his own.
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Kid
Episode 1
Directed by Hal Hartley • 1984 • United States
Starring Janine Eriksen, George Feaster, Bob GosseHal Hartley’s thesis film at SUNY Purchase features a number of actors who would continue to appear in his films in the early 1990s. A young man attempting to leave town to find his estranged girlfr...
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28:31Episode 2The Cartographer’s Girlfriend
Episode 2
Directed by Hal Hartley • 1987 • United States
Starring Marissa Chibas, George Feaster, Steven GeigerA shy and introverted city surveyor has his quiet, scholarly world turned upside down when a young woman mysteriously appears in his apartment in this poetic, sometimes surreal look at male assu...
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Ambition
Episode 4
Directed by Hal Hartley • 1991 • United States
Starring George Feaster, Hannah Sullivan, Rick GroelHal Hartley chronicles a day in the life of a young artist who longs for professional success and the attention of beautiful women, but who encounters only frustration and violence.
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17:50Episode 5Theory of Achievement
Episode 5
Directed by Hal Hartley • 1991 • United States
Starring Bob Gosse, Jessica Sager, Jeffrey HowardYoung, middle-class, white, college-educated, unskilled, broke, drunk. An aspiring writer tries his hand at real estate, selling Brooklyn as the next great art capital of the world.
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08:32Episode 6Opera No. 1
Episode 6
Directed by Hal Hartley • 1994 • United States
Starring Patricia Dunnock, Parker Posey, Adrienne ShellyMistaken identities, miscast spells, and rollerblades abound in this comical mini-opera following the exploits of two goddesses interfering with the lives of mortals.
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07:28Episode 9The Other Also
Episode 9
Directed by Hal Hartley • 1997 • United States
Starring Miho Nikaido, Elina Löwensohn, James UrbaniakA minimalist, atmospheric meditation on the theme of love focuses on reconciliation and forgiveness.
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15:17Episode 10The New Math(s)
Episode 10
Directed by Hal Hartley • 2000 • United States
Starring D. J. Mendel, Miho Nikaido, David NeumannAn intricately choreographed fight breaks out over the solution to a math problem.
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10:13Episode 11Regarding Soon
Episode 11
Directed by Hal Hartley • 2004 • United States
Starring Hal HartleyHal Hartley offers a behind-the-scenes look at the production of his play “Soon,” a work inspired by the 1993 events in Waco, Texas, involving the religious sect called the Branch Davidians and their collision with the U.S. Fede...
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16:49Episode 12The Sisters of Mercy
Episode 12
Directed by Hal Hartley • 2004 • United States
Starring Parker Posey, Sabrina LloydThis documentary consists of footage shot between actual takes during the production of the short film IRIS, revealing the imagination, diligence, and patience that goes into composing a shot.
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29:25Episode 14Implied Harmonies
Episode 14
Directed by Hal Hartley • 2010 • United States
Starring Jordana Maurer, Hal Hartley, Louis AndriessenHal Hartley’s conscientious assistant in Berlin receives weekly letters from her boss and sends him the books he needs as he struggles in Amsterdam to stage Dutch composer Louis Andriessen’s ope...
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13:43Episode 15The Apologies
Episode 15
Directed by Hal Hartley • 2010 • United States
Starring Nikolai Kinski, Bettina Zimmermann, Ireen KirschA commercially realistic but artistically conflicted playwright lends his Berlin apartment to a young actor friend so she can rehearse her drama-school audition while he goes off to save his ...
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Adventure
Episode 16
Directed by Hal Hartley • 2010 • United States
Starring Hal Hartley, Miho NikaidoHal Hartley and his wife, actor Miho Nikaido, travel to Japan to see her parents and reflect on twelve years of marriage, her career ambitions, and the adventures of growing older.
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03:13Episode 17Accomplice
Episode 17
Directed by Hal Hartley • 2010 • United States
Starring Jordana Maurer, Jean-Luc Godard, D. J. MendelAn artist-criminal far from home asks his assistant to pirate a rare videotape before the German Post Office Authorities come to confiscate it.
