oscar jubis
01-04-2006, 03:44 PM
The Girl Fom Monday (USA, 2005)
New York-based director Hal Hartley was quite popular during the 90s, when his films received relatively wide distribution. Not that any of them made anybody rich, but films like The Unbelievable Truth and Trust received deserved exposure. Hartley was from the beginning and continues to be an original artist, which doesn't mean he lacks influences (he's the American filmmaker most obviously indebted to J.L. Godard). I'm afraid younger film buffs nowadays don't even recognize his name and they're not to blame. The last Hartley film to get advertising of any kind was 1997's Henry Fool, a winner for Best Screenplay at Cannes.
The Girl From Monday, perhaps his most ambitious film to date, premiered at Sundance 2005, played briefly in a couple of "A" markets, and went to video. It's a mixture of future dystopia ("1984",etc.) and alien visit (Roeg's The Man Who Fell To Earth, Subiela's Man Facing S.E.) set in Manhattan. A society in which people have a bar code tatooed on their wrist, status is measured by credit rating, and sex and the economy are symbiotically linked ("Let's fuck and increase our buying power"). The Girl from Monday depicts the futile efforts of a band of rebels led by an ad man (Bill Sage) against the giant conglomerate that runs and rules everything. Some rebels are human and others are "immigrants", aliens from the constellation Monday who have assumed human form.
Hartley's low-budget feature is shot in present-day urban spaces like Godard's Alphaville and features freeze-frames and voice-over narration that recall Chris Marker's masterpiece La Jetee. The Girl from Monday, Hartley's most visually gorgeous movie, was shot in Hi-def video.It fluctuates between color and B&W, and conveys an other-worldliness via unusual p.o.v. shots. The most stunning scenes have a fragmented look achieved by decreasing the frames-per-second from the usual 24 to single digits. It's a film that alternates between the poetic melancholia of the aliens' plight (lamentably underdevoped and nebulous), moments of Hartley's characteristic deadpan humor, and biting satire. Hartley's script makes a future projection of dangerous tendencies in today's world: the gargantuan appetite of corporations, the commodification of sex, the ubiquitousness of advertising, the slow death of privacy, among others.
Although not a masterpiece (inconsistent script, average performances), The Girl from Monday is the most neglected must-see film of 2005. Its amazing images, thought-provoking plot, poetic mood, and important subject matter are strong selling points. Hartley's decision to follow Monday with a Henry Fool sequel, starring Parker Posey, leads me to believe he's itching to return to the spotlight.
New York-based director Hal Hartley was quite popular during the 90s, when his films received relatively wide distribution. Not that any of them made anybody rich, but films like The Unbelievable Truth and Trust received deserved exposure. Hartley was from the beginning and continues to be an original artist, which doesn't mean he lacks influences (he's the American filmmaker most obviously indebted to J.L. Godard). I'm afraid younger film buffs nowadays don't even recognize his name and they're not to blame. The last Hartley film to get advertising of any kind was 1997's Henry Fool, a winner for Best Screenplay at Cannes.
The Girl From Monday, perhaps his most ambitious film to date, premiered at Sundance 2005, played briefly in a couple of "A" markets, and went to video. It's a mixture of future dystopia ("1984",etc.) and alien visit (Roeg's The Man Who Fell To Earth, Subiela's Man Facing S.E.) set in Manhattan. A society in which people have a bar code tatooed on their wrist, status is measured by credit rating, and sex and the economy are symbiotically linked ("Let's fuck and increase our buying power"). The Girl from Monday depicts the futile efforts of a band of rebels led by an ad man (Bill Sage) against the giant conglomerate that runs and rules everything. Some rebels are human and others are "immigrants", aliens from the constellation Monday who have assumed human form.
Hartley's low-budget feature is shot in present-day urban spaces like Godard's Alphaville and features freeze-frames and voice-over narration that recall Chris Marker's masterpiece La Jetee. The Girl from Monday, Hartley's most visually gorgeous movie, was shot in Hi-def video.It fluctuates between color and B&W, and conveys an other-worldliness via unusual p.o.v. shots. The most stunning scenes have a fragmented look achieved by decreasing the frames-per-second from the usual 24 to single digits. It's a film that alternates between the poetic melancholia of the aliens' plight (lamentably underdevoped and nebulous), moments of Hartley's characteristic deadpan humor, and biting satire. Hartley's script makes a future projection of dangerous tendencies in today's world: the gargantuan appetite of corporations, the commodification of sex, the ubiquitousness of advertising, the slow death of privacy, among others.
Although not a masterpiece (inconsistent script, average performances), The Girl from Monday is the most neglected must-see film of 2005. Its amazing images, thought-provoking plot, poetic mood, and important subject matter are strong selling points. Hartley's decision to follow Monday with a Henry Fool sequel, starring Parker Posey, leads me to believe he's itching to return to the spotlight.