Henry : "Get up off your knees."
Henry's pronouncement makes his arrival seem like an answer to Simon's prayers and according to Hartley, maybe it is.
Hal Hartley : "I imagined that Henry would make this entrance that was almost supernatural, very very big comic book like clarity and power and authority because henry is going to come in and shake up that town from the bottom up.
Beginning with Simon who's stuck in a numbingly routine existence and dismissed as slow by even his mother."
Simon
: "I'm not retarded
Henry
: I'll take your word for it."
Hal Hartley : "I don't think Simon has a problem. Hes perceived as someone who has a problem, either he's shy, he's introverted or he's whatever, emotionally or psychologically impaired. But in a certain sense I do see he's impaired but he's impaired by a talent. Everything in the world washes over him and he feels and sees everything. Whereas other people who are probably a little more functional have developed the skills to get on with life and not to be completely wrapped up in everything and thats probably why he can't really articulate anything he's kind of immobilized himself by this kind of awareness he has and Henry just tells him a very simple practical thing."
Henry : "You ever feel like you have something to say but can't, write it down."
And that's precisely what Simon does, filling an entire notebook in a single night. Henry, who's been filling notebooks for years with his own confessions, sees potential in Simon's work.
Henry : "You've written it in iambic pentameter... Your spelling is neanderthal but your instincts are profound."
The verse elicits extreme responses from all who read it. One person calls it pornography, another proclaims it a masterpiece. One publisher advises Simon to drop dead but when the epic poem hits the internet, Simon becomes a media sensation. Hartley's cinematic style reflects the contradictions of his story. He mixes bursts of rapid dialogue with extended silences and uses a spare style to create films of surprising lyricism. He also displays humor that's as deadpan as Buster Keaton's. When Henry's asked about his past, he dryly responds...
Henry : "I've been bad...repeatedly."
That perfect sense of timing makes Hartley's films too contrived to be naturalistic yet their ability to pare things down to the bare essentials conveys a sense of truth. At one point, a character describes a local politician as someone who takes complicated issues and simplifies them. In a way, that's what Hartley's doing. But unlike the politician who simplifies as a form of condescension, Hartley's simplification is a means of distilling things to a pure essence. He can sum up a theme in a few succinct lines as in this scene where Simon's suffering from a severe beating.
Simon
: "It hurts to breath.
Henry
: Of course it does."
Henry's reply is both flippant and profound, and it slyly conveys the film's point about life being a constant struggle. Such clarity and directness are important to Hartley's style.
Hal Hartley : "I want to avoid the crap. You want to try to cut through that and bring in some light like a clearer melody even if you dont know what you're talking about it's sometimes worth making an effort to speak clearly just to express your confusion clearly."
And Hartley's characters are frequently confused yet they also possess fierce convictions and a driving sense of purpose. They sneak up on you emotionally because Hartley's style seems so detached. And that detachment is the key says the director.
Hal Hartley : "The opposite of it is cheap sentimentality where I'm pointing out the meaning of each emotional moment so that i kind of leave you out of it. And it's funny, the detachment causes the audience to be engaged more because you can't take anything for granted, you need to, the storyteller me, I'm not telling you how to feel at each moment, I'm being detached, I'm being objective, I'm being a bit of a bastard. I'm frustrating you a little bit but I think somebody who really likes being engaged, who really likes watching movies will be up to that struggle and they get engaged and i think they have an experience that is more intense, more pleasurable."
With only a handful of features to his credit, Hartley has established himself as one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary cinema. His unique cinematic vision is on display in every frame of his films and Henry Fool is no exception. Its Hartley's most ambitious film and it tweaks his favorite themes in interesting new ways. He explores life's ironies in a larger context, gives us a suburban saint who's also a sinner and places his search for identity against a backdrop of fame, fads and celebrity. He also gives us a comedy of quirky intelligence.
Companion viewing: The Unbelievable Truth, Trust
