Amateur (1994)

At times hilarious and at others mind numbingly boring and dull, this is certainly something different. Your milage with the affected acting, long pauses, deadpan delivery, and scattershot plot may vary, but it's usually interesting. Check it out if you want something off the beaten path.

Fmovies: This is without any doubt one of the best films ever made. The plot is pretty complex, four persons (all terrible amateurs) trying to live their lives without mutch knowledge 'bout the subject. The conversations are wonderful, the acting is awesome (especially Isabelle Huppert, her performance is a masterpiece you haven't seen since...Vertigo?). This is the only film I've ever seen three times in a row.I couldn't stop myself. An interesting thing about it is that not only the main, but even the smallest and least important characters are truly amateurs. The police girl, the video store guy, the café girl... Ain't we all after all?

I am ashamed to admit that I have only just discovered Hal Hartley. Fortunately, not too late, as I think I still have enough time remaining on this planet to hunt up and watch all of his other films.

I'm getting a real chuckle out of reading all the one-star reviews here by people who just don't "get it". I don't blame them, really, but there should be some way of warning them not to do it; not to embarrass themselves by displaying their shallowness. If it's slick predigested Hollywood pap liberally peppered with explosions they're looking for, they're in the wrong place.

Hal Hartley rules. If he's made better films than "Amateur" then I'm in for a real treat.

Amateur fmovies. Quirky, odd, brilliant. This is the best use of deadpan delivery I've ever seen. Martin Donovan is excellent. If you're going to rent a Hal Hartley movie you should start with this one; it's the most accessible and the funniest, and also the least stagey.

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 perfect! So much about redemption: This was clear if one remembers Thomas's feet at the beginning of the movie, and then Thomas's feet at the end. At that point, I saw the (one of) point to the story. I enjoyed the clipped dialogue, the clarity, AND the ironic absurdity. The story was not meant to be reality-driven, but limited to the raison d'etre of Thomas and the other characters: as in a dream, but not. Discovering it was a marvelous channel-surfing accident.

Now I must do a search on Hal Hartley. Check out his portfolio, so to speak. Rating 9/10.

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 warned: Hartley's refreshingly non-mainstream, detached, minimalist style takes quite some getting used to, and the ending is needlessly downbeat. (**1/2)