Popular reviews

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  Review by Graham ★★★

  A Little Taste of Hartley

  in which a perpetually disappointed in himself man converts getting to work and finding a girl into a relentless struggle against society, a la Oldeuboi.

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  Review by Amy Hensarling ★★★½ 2

  No. 4

  —I want the image I have of myself and myself to become one.
  —Cool. 

  —Your aspirations are pointless. 

  Ambition is 8 minute quality hit Hartley raging against the dying of the light. 

  I’m good at what I do
  I’m good at what I do
  I’m good at what I do

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  Review by Zach Nabors ★★★★ 10

  The most 80s Godard of any Hartley I’ve seen. How do we create in a world bent on destruction? How do we maintain our ambition when there is a boot above our heads?

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  Review by orson houellebecq ★★★★½ 1

  "Dwell on uncomplicated beauty: The landscape, the sun on your face. Nothing touches you. Keep the image of your death cheerfully before you at all times. Gain perspective. Seek to clarify and comfort, not to obscure or mystify. Your aspirations are pointless; your ambitions come to nothing."

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  Review by Andrew Augustine ★★★★ 2

  "No matter what I achieve, I always have this irritating sensation of emptiness and futility."
  "Oh yeah, I hate that."

  I'm making it my business to watch my way through the Hal Hartley collection on the Criterion Channel and judging by this, I'm in for some good shit. Loved this and I thought it was incredibly creative, even if it didn't all make sense to me. It evoked a vibe and that's all I need!

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  Review by Jay D 's Watching ★★★

  Vivid short about artistic ambitions in the modern age (well, the 1990s, but it definitely still feels relevant) and the balance between work and life, or at least, the way they feed each other through long stretches of violence and brief moments of gratification. It's tempting to take it as a bit of an artistic statement for Hartley, a bit of an anchor stone to his body of work, but it's also tempting to take it just as a deadpan joke about how we see artists. Uncertainty is fun!

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  Review by cinemapoodle ★★★★½

  This one is lean, and it cuts deep.

  A young idealist wants to make good on his ambition, as in the classic form of the Bildungsroman: "I want the image I have of myself and my self to become one." "Cool," says his roommate, and we laugh. (Well, I laughed.) And, for a few brief minutes, he is cool, literally punching his way through a treacherous New York City. But the world of work—that arena in which ambition is recognized and celebrated, but only if it feeds back into a cycle that perpetuates work’s existing structure, ad nauseam—punches back. He takes the hits, reciting his undying affection for everything that’s contrary to the principles of the corporate goons: Virginia Woolf, Victor Hugo, Beethoven, baseball. Any solace? "Dwell on uncomplicated beauty." Our hearts break a little. (Well, mine broke a little, but it felt good, or at least right.)

  letterboxd.com/cinemapoodle/list/hal-hartley-ranked-so-far/

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  Review by Baycun ★★★★

  me when somebody tries to tell me i cant eat a big sandwich

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  Review by SergeGainsbourg ★★★★★

  Realest thing ever made.

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  Review by Joren Cain ★★★★

  Well, someone is a Godard fan!

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  Review by jrhovind ★★★

  “I want the image I have of myself and my self to become one,” says Hartley’s aspiring hero. Assailants lurking everywhere in the streets; his industry’s gate-keepers would probably rather kill him than let him in; a benevolent assistant kindly lets him know that none of this matters. "Dwell on uncomplicated beauty, the landscape, the sun on your face. Nothing touches you. Keep the image of your death cheerfully before you at all times. Gain perspective. Seek to clarify and comfort, not to obscure or mystify. Your aspirations are pointless; your ambitions come to nothing.”

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  Review by patrick gray ★★★★★

  i love america because i love baseball