Amateur

Having seen and loved 'Trust' a few months ago, I jumped at the opportunity to see another film by the poorly-distributed (in the UK, at least) writer/director Hal Hartley when I saw it in the late-night TV listings. And did... Full review

Most auteur directors attempt to make a genre film at some point throughout their career. With Amateur, Hartley endeavors to create a film that simultaneously exists in the crime/conspiracy/Euro-thriller genre and in the inimitable world of Hal Hartley. It is an... Full review

I liked this when I rented it on video years ago. A good, quirky film with a rather good-looking cast and some nice one-liners. I won't bother to describe the plot, other than that it centres on the possibility of... Full review

Its been a while since I've this movie but its always stayed with me and I would strongly recommend it. This film has Hal Hartley's trademark sparse, artsy atmosphere, with the slightly surreal characters, the staged dialogue and set pieces.... Full review

Hal Hartley's latest film, Amateur, is quite a departure from his earlier work. Still gone is his once-traditional lead, the crimson-haired ingenue Adrienne Shelly (who hasn't been seen since Trust), and in her stead are two foreign actresses, Isabelle Huppert (as... Full review

Hal Hartley where have you been all my movie-loving life? This was the sort of movie-watching experience which required my calling my best friend and telling her about it, as I would any noteworthy experience.Yes, the ending was dismal... yet... Full review

Hartley is one of the most interesting directors working. Many associate him with French intuitives, but I think his experiments are more intellectual, more New York. His films are not only about other films, but exist in a world abstracted... Full review

Some people say that they don't make good movies anymore. This implies that movies were made better in the past. I don't think they ever made movies this good ever before. They never made movies like Hal Hartley's and probably never... Full review

Hal Hartley's "Amateur" is an engagingly offbeat take on the "crime thriller" genre. It is also perhaps the most quietly thoughtful handling of amnesia (not as a plot trick, but as a subject) you're ever likely to see. But be... Full review

This is a mystery that seems to want to satirize mysteries in general and while I had a little trouble with the script its the presence of Isabelle Huppert that adds the interest to the film. Story is about a... Full review

Amateur may be Hartley's best looking film, with cinematographer Michael Spiller taking in Manhattan as a series of angular sharp edged buildings and narrow side streets. Hartley similarly responds with fresh eyes to the rules of the crime/thriller genre, the hook he builds Amateur 's story on. ... Full Review

Whereas the typical movie amnesiac seeks reasons for his memory loss, in Amateur , that mystery is rather banal: Thomas was a bad person. Hartley, for his part, discusses his use of humor to dilute his intellectualism, admitting that he enjoys making films about ideas, where characters are launch into meditative asides about the nature of the universe while munching sandwiches. ... Full Review

Huppert is delicious as Isabelle, a nun who has left her convent to write pornography. The extraordinary cast brings snap and surprising heart to Hartley's riffs on sex, lies and exploitation. ... Full Review

And his latest, "Amateur," will probably not win any converts. Hartley's characters are always conflicted, which is best demonstrated in the film's funniest deadpan dialogue exchange. ... Full Review

Hartley made a "deep" and tragic movie about big-time people.....The action/comedy sequences are superb....Amateur could have been an action-driven comedy instead of a sloppy narrative;.... ... Full Review

There's a rhythm to Hal Hartley's films, a staccato, rat-a-tat-tat delivery of both dialogue and story structure that is unquestionably an acquired taste. Hartley's quirky early films - "The Unbelievable Truth," "Trust," "Simple Men" - were funny, witty and winning,... ... Full Article

A Hal Hartley film is an acquired taste.A viewer can slip in and out of appreciation for Hartley's work, but it takes a true Hartley-ite to champion all of his films without pause. ... Full Article