Review of Fay Grim (2007) by Jwasu R — 30 Aug 2011

Fay Grim is Hal Hartley's sequel to Henry Fool in which Fay discovers that Henry was not the louse in which she expected but rather the keeper of some very secretive government documents and that his his notebooks contained cryptic messages giving away these secrets.

This sends Fay on a wild journey of espionage and intrigue to find Henry, whom she believes to still be alive. Fay Grim is a departure for Hal Hartley in that it doesn't feature the same peculiar dialogue which is a staple of his films.

That isnt to say that it still doesn't have some Hartly-isms but its far more subdued than most of his work. I would also say that this is probably Hartley's most cinematic film in terms of direction, cinematography and editing.

Harley uses a ton of canted angles throughout to really create this sense of unease and Fay tries to uncover the truth. During a few action scenes, Hartley implores an interesting technique in which he uses a bunch of single frames, reminiscent of La Jetee, to create a visceral way of creating scenes that were probably difficult otherwise considering budget was probably an issue.

Overall its an interesting piece but I really thought it never really goes anywhere considering the subject matter, which lead the film to over stay its welcome. Its still got some great witty comedic lines but it just lacks the overall playfulness in which my favorite Hartley films have.