Ned Rifle is the third and final chapter in Hal Hartley's acclaimed tragedy/comedy series centering around the exploites and misfortunes caused by one, Henry Fool. Picking up after the events of Fay Grim, this film follows Ned, the son of Fay and Henry Fool, who on his 18th birthday decides to leave witness protection, and seek out his mysterious father. Intent on killing the man responsible for destroying his mother's life, Ned's plan becomes further more complicated when he crosses paths with the sexy and strange Susan, who herself has crossed paths with Henry many years ago. Hal Hartley's Ned Rifle is a worthy conclusion to this one-of-a-kind series, continuing to raise many of the same questions in America, pertaining to the conflict between art and commerce, intellectualism, culture, and religon. Featuring Hartley's fantastic dialogue, Ned Rifle sees how two young individuals in Susan and Ned have had their lives effected by Henry Fool, with Hartley's penchant for the hyper-literate dialogue being as memorable and one of a kind as ever. In the hands of most filmmakers, the story of Susan and Ned would be insufferably sad, but Hartley's wit and deadpan humor make Ned Rifle another unique film, that beautifully balances its comedy and tragedy in capturing the journey of these two souls. I've always been a fan of these films just for the Henry Fool character alone, a symbolic force of despair in which Hartley juxtaposes addiction, filth, and ribaldry with intellectualism. Any discussion on the relationship between these two very different forces is endlessly fascinating to me, with Thomas Jay Ryan being as memorable as ever in the role. Hartley's deadpan tone is alive and well in Ned Rifle, with Audrey Plaza being memorable in the role of Susan, an actress that perfectly fits into Hartley's unique demands. Tonally, Ned Rifle is full of despair but also intellectual glee, being another film where Hal Hartley's love of cinema shines through, as he waxes poetic to the viewer, offering nuggets of wisdom about life and art. While Ned Rifle doesn't quite reach the heights of its predecessors, it's a worth conclusion to Hartley's Henry Fool trilogy, being another truly one-of-a-kind work by a self-reflective filmmaker operating outside of the mainstream.
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AuthorLove of all things cinema brought me here. Archives
June 2023
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