1989   USA The Unbelievable Truth
The Unbelievable Truth Image Cover
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Director:Hal Hartley
Studio:ANCHOR BAY
Writer:Hal Hartley
IMDb Rating:7.3 (2,079 votes)
Awards:1 nomination
Genre:Comedy
Duration:90 min
Languages:English
IMDb:0100842
Amazon:B000059PPA
Search:NetflixYouTube
Hal Hartley  ...  (Director)
Hal Hartley  ...  (Writer)
 
Adrienne Shelly  ...  Audry Hugo
Robert John Burke  ...  Josh Hutton (as Robert Burke)
Chris Cooke  ...  Vic Hugo (as Christopher Cooke)
Julia McNeal  ...  Pearl
Katherine Mayfield  ...  Liz Hugo
Gary Sauer  ...  Emmet
David Healy  ...  Todd Whitbread
Matt Malloy  ...  Otis (Driver / Bum)
Edie Falco  ...  Jane (The Waitress)
Jeff Howard  ...  Irate driver
Kelly Reichardt  ...  His Wife
Ross Turner  ...  Their Son
Paul Schulze  ...  Bill (as Paul Schultze)
Mike Brady  ...  Bob
Bill Sage  ...  Gus
Mark Chandler Bailey  ...  Mike
Michael Spiller  ...  Cinematographer
Jim Coleman  ...  Composer
Hal Hartley  ...  Editor
Summary: The films of Hal Hartley, New York's modern beatnik cinema laureate, are not for everyone. His self-consciously clever ping-pong dialogue sounds like a cross between song lyrics and Samuel Beckett, while his deadpan direction gives a wry cast to it all. It's romantic comedy skewed through a thoroughly modern perspective, and it sprung fully formed in his debut feature. Gloomy redheaded pixie Adrienne Shelly, a neurotic high school student fixated on doomsday scenarios, falls for the tall, dark, and mysterious Robert Burke, a black-clad, philosophy-spouting mechanic who is constantly mistaken for a priest and rumored to be a convicted murderer.
An enigmatic, intellectually playful farce played with ironic understatement, Hartley's austere film was shot on the cheap with a handsome, restrained style and directed with an approach straddling verbal slapstick and modernist irony. Shelly mixes the goofy, obsessive distractions of a screwball heroine with smarts, determination, and hardball negotiating skills, while Burke's quiet calm and confidence radiates warmth and sincerity even while playing the loner. Hartley explores the line between truth and rumor, and he takes satirical swipes at the culture of cash and contracts--yet for all his irony he remains an optimist. For all its hip '90s attitude, the unbelievable truth is that Hartley is a romantic at heart. --Sean Axmaker


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