artfully conceived and wonderfully shot, "hunting earl" escapes all of the pitfalls into which young directors so eagerly hurl themselves. completely avoiding the snappy 20-something navel-gazing endemic to his generation, smith has produced a wonderfully patient and abstract meditation on aging and the natural order. wryly conceived film overstuffed with metaphoric possibility, "hunting earl" is hopefully only the beginning of what we can only hope will be a most prolific career.
