The Girl from Monday

"Simple Men," "Amateur," and "Henry Fool" are among the films of Hal Hartley--one of the wittiest and most sophisticated independent directors working in America today.

After seeing "Simple Men," I eagerly waited the release on video of each new Hartley film, and relentlessly hunted down his early work and short films as well. Mostly, I found his movies to be totally and refreshingly offbeat, unpredictable, and irreverent--yet also very watchable--with great plots, likable characters, and a sense of humor that was wry and goofy by turns.

His photographic style was crisp and painterly; and though it may it may have looked conventional, its flat lighting and muted colors, coupled with deadpan dialogue and the movement and ear of a good play, it was obvious to anyone that this was genuine "auteur" direction.

But Hartley's more recent work—"The Book of Life," "No Such Thing," and now "The Girl from Monday," has failed to stir in me even the slightest interest. There are vestiges in these films of vintage Hartley; but the thrill is definitely gone.

As he did in "The Book of Life," Hartley once again decides to offset the horizon in almost every scene—a few degrees to the left, a few degrees to the right—and he indulges in other eccentricities as well, like cutting out frames to make the motion jagged, or moving the camera in and out of focus—in short adding disruption after disruption--all to no purpose that I can discover. Personally, I find nothing interesting and nothing functional in this new, crabbed style of his.

The plot of "Girl" is jejune in the extreme—yet another distopic look at a future of totalitarian rule, with a bit of alien intervention to muddy the mix still further. (Someone on this list compared the sci-fi facet to "The Man Who Fell To Earth." Indeed, the theft is so blatant, Roeg should have been mentioned in the credits.) This movie has little to recommend it—even for a Hartley enthusiast like I (was).

Shown at New York's Museum of Modern Art, January 2005. Introduced by the Directer with the major cast in attendance.

A satirical swipe at Big Government and Big Business. Government and business are in a conspiracy to exploit the public. The film also ridicules the situation in the schools where guns are checked at the door. The main characters are rebelling against the big powers.

Life is not good for the workers. Everything is turned into a profit maker for the big company which is an arm of the government. Sex, for example, cannot be enjoyed for pleasure but is used to earn purchasing credits. Sex for pleasure is punishable.

All students take Attention Deficit pills. The school situation is so bad, that a criminal sentence is to teach high school for two years.

The action takes place in the "future' but the very near future as the cars, streets, clothes, etc are all modern day. The film was shot almost entirely in downtown Manhattan. Some parts looks like a hand held camera was used but the resulting film is professional in look and color.

The acting and action move the action along at a nice pace. The Girl From Monday arrives from a planet(?)called Monday. A space visitor is not really necessary to the story but it allows the "Monday" character to observe the local people with a fresh eye.

The "bad" motives and actions of the government, corporation, and The Police are beaten to death with a fairly heavy hand but that is the point of the film which arose from a "rant" written by the Director who later decided to put his criticisms on film.

Have not seen any of this director's previous films to compare but this film was an enjoyable look at what could happen if the "Military/Industrial Complex" of the 1950's becomes the Government/Industrial Complex of today.

Is this Hartley following Godard's footsteps and becoming "political"? Political commentary is never interesting, unless it is executed in an interesting way. Luckily, this is one of those cases.

I'm amazed at the quality of the shots considering they used a DCR-VX2000 for this movie. How many cameras did they use? One I suspect.

Hartley's World is that of an intelligent essayist, specially since he quit making movies like "Surviving Desire" and "Trust". "Theory of Achievement" was heavily influenced by "La Chinoise", as much as the form of a "short" could take it. Here we have the same intent, but turned into a fictional narrative. It works, but only if you understand the reasoning behind it.

Consumer goods corporation takes over the world.

The first alien corrupts the world and himself.

Revolutionaries are also good for the economy.

The second alien (The girl from Monday) searches for the first alien.

Will the second alien also get corrupted?

Or will she save alien number one?

Or are they both stuck here forever?

And who cares?

The pace of the movie can challenge a snail.

The loud background noise cannot pass for music.

Luckily, they did not try too much CGI as it is a very stationary story.

Lots of potty mouth but no really gratuities sex scenes.

Even the DVD extras are boring and non- informative.

I would like to suggest to those who comment on this film, of which there are many, that if one is to judge this movie as 'simplistic' or trite, then one has to answer a set of questions raised by the film -

1. What is the relation between embodiment and desire? Hartley raises this beautifully with the presentation of the girl, and intertwines it with the other themes (among many!) that I would like to point out.

2. What is the role of Christianity in this film? The word become flesh, the girl reading a study bible, the interviewer asking Jack if he is religious, and the idea of sacrifice and martyrdom all raise this issue in interesting and provocative ways. (this is especially interesting considering the film's conclusion and the question it raises about the possibility of a messiah in a capitalist context (i.e. where "value" only means monetary value))

3. What is the relation between desire and the structures of society? Does desire resist that power structure, or is it rather created by that power structure? The film raises the question of whether or not the resistance that is possible is also "good for business," and suggests that desire is fully malleable by the power structure. BUT, it also opens the possibility for real resistance, without being overly optimistic about this.

There are many many other interesting questions raised by this wonderful and thoughtful film, but these are just a few that immediately strike me as central, and which do not seem to play a role in the criticism of the film voiced by many of its detractors.

It is important to develop the skill to enjoy many types of film - important insofar as it simply increases pleasure in watching film - and so it is best to be able to ignore problems with the low production value and bad acting and to enjoy it for its strengths, rather than focus on the negative and not enjoy one's time with the film.

P.S. Anyone else wondering about the references to Homer's Odyssey in the film? So many questions . . .