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Fay Grim

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Fay Grim (2007)

January. 19,2007
|
6.1
|
R
| Action Comedy Thriller
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Many years after her notorious husband, Henry Fool, fled after killing a neighbor, Fay Grim receives a visit from CIA agent Fulbright, who tells her that Henry is dead, but that some of his journals have been unearthed in France. She sets forth on a globe-trotting odyssey that soon leads to the discovery that he is alive, and his journals are more than they appear to be.

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Reviews

FeistyUpper
2007/01/19

If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

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BallWubba
2007/01/20

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

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Bumpy Chip
2007/01/21

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

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Raymond Sierra
2007/01/22

The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

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hamish-25851
2007/01/23

A tongue-firmly-in-cheek spy thriller which is about the games along the way, not the actual plot. If you can accept that - and tolerate relentless use of the Dutch Angle - then you'll have a lot of fun. If that isn't your cup of tea, then this is very hard going.I haven't seen the original Henry Fool and cannot compare this to it. The movie is reviewed as a standalone.It's clear that the budget was extremely tight. This movie takes that limitation and turns it into an asset - creativity takes the place of special effects and the now ubiquitous chase scenes and choreographed shootouts. Props are kept to a minimum, so are locations, costumes, vehicles and the like. Swooping, highly technical camera shots are noticeable by their absence. This would have crippled a lesser director, but Hal Hartley takes these things and makes the limitations stylish.This is a very stylish movie.The way people talk and interact, the way the scenes flow or cut or jump, how characters evolve - it's all done in a way I've never seen before. It should be clunky. Somehow it flows. An awful lot of ground gets covered, with the absolute minimum of fuss. There are a lot of lessons here for jaded audiences and amateur film makers alike.The acting isn't going to win any awards, but it doesn't have to. The style of the movie doesn't call for large dramatic turns. Parker Posey does very well as a woman taking control, Jeff Goldblum's role might have been a suit tailored for him, and the young Liam Aiken (as Ned Grim) has quite a turn as a precocious teenager. The rest of the cast are alright, and that's all that's needed. The whole movie is about people keeping a straight face while playing apparently serious games, and large displays of emotion would simply get in the way of the fun.Unfortunately the film makes a strategic mis-step about two-thirds through. The first half of the movie sets up a delightful farce, with the initially beleaguered Fay Grim becoming someone rather smarter than those around her. It could have kept going this way, and to my mind it should have. Instead the movie steers into darker, more serious territory. When it does, the film's two biggest assets – the games between characters, and the feeling of a fairytale – are lost. Instead, Hartley chooses to concentrate on the plot line.It's not a good call. The plot line is perfect for a farce; it's not suitable for where Hartley tries to go. He nearly manages to make it work, but the ground prepared in the first half simply isn't right for what he tries to move toward in the second. If the audience got this far, it's still worth seeing affairs through to the end, though.Smart, stylish, and it makes audiences engage with what's going on.

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FatMan-QaTFM
2007/01/24

As you may have figured out, I have trouble praising good films. There's just not much to say without ruining them. I'll do my best though.Fay Grim stars the Queen of Indie, Parker Posey. While she's fabulously talented, I just don't find her that attractive, and therefore I'm not as excited as I should be about her 16 films a year. But I digress, and I'm not sure why I even went there. Psychoanalyze me, psychos.This is actually my first Hal Hartley film, and I was pleasantly surprised by the twisting story and fast paced dialog. I think Fay Grim is probably a little too smart for most viewers - not Syriana "smart" where it throws unrelated facts at you for a few hours and then ends with a flash of confusion, but smart in that if you're rooting around in your popcorn, you might miss what's going on. There's no repetition, it just moves.I had the added bonus of hearing Hartley speak about his film at the Atlanta Film Festival. He didn't respond at length to many questions until someone asked about dutch angles. Then he started talking. He apparently loves them, in case you didn't figure it out by watching. He also spoke about his creative process on set where he acts out the movement he'd like to see, and then has his actors do their interpretation of how he was moving, and calls it a day. I'd love to be on set for a lot of that - fast moving and efficient film making.Go rent it, you won't regret it.

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elementart
2007/01/25

After seeing this film months ago, it keeps jumping back into my consciousness and I feel I must buy it or at least see it again, even though I watched it at least 3 times when I rented it at that point.I fell in love with Hal Hartley's directing many years ago - I found that these films could make me laugh in an place that is rarely entertained. It is a strange feeling, granted, and I assume most people out there really just don't get it, or it makes them feel confused and somewhat uncomfortable - I guess I just really get it - its as if these films were made for me.Although I don't remember if I actually laughed out loud during this film, it remains one of the funniest films I've seen in many years. If you don't see the humor of the grocery bag Fay carries from the street to a church, to her brother's publisher's office, to her son's principal's office you may lack the intelligence to be highly impressed by this film. The bag is a silent character in itself, being dragged around as an icon of motherhood the usually brash, bitchy Parker Posey must carry before the international intrigue of the remainder of the film besets her.I consider "Henry Fool" my least favorite of Hartley's films. I honestly don't remember it very well - I think the character himself was so despicable I found it tedious. Hartley's forte seems to be feminine character development.Aside from Posey's brilliance, it was wonderful to see Elina Lowensohn, one of my favorite actresses, again. Her extravagant naiveté is perfect for Hartley's direction. His ability to make the outrageous seem banal helps define his style as a delicious chronic irony throughout.This film erupts into a highly relevant international intrigue story, explaining political situations in Afganistan. This is never suspected at the beginning. The complexity of this film's development is unparalleled.This is the epitome of a "stand alone" sequel. The less you know about Henry Fool the more mystery is spun around him, the less you expect his appearance toward the end of the film - as an alcoholic chain-smoking complaint machine, hurling insults at his Islamic terrorist caretaker who somehow seems to respect him. Its like finding out Santa Claus is actually a 12-year-old schoolyard bully.Although I was impressed and satisfied with Hartley's other recent films "the Girl from Monday" and "No Such Thing", "Fay Grim" goes far beyond what I expected, with a sense of humor and originality no Oscar winner would ever dare.

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Coffrin
2007/01/26

This is a low-budget spoof of the espionage genre. To help frame your expectations, you should know that: (1) The acting is wildly heavy-handed. The stars are having great fun delivering their lines with excessive eye movement, frequent hand gestures, and off-key pacing. (2) The script deliberately lacks continuity and plausibility. Oftentimes lines are abruptly jarring and humorous because they have absolutely no relevance to previous plot elements. (3) Shots are frequently framed in off-balance angles, poking fun at genre excesses. (4) A pop-eyed Jeff Goldblum delivers complex and classically preposterous dialog in a winningly sarcastic manner.The film has a guiding intelligence, deliberately starting with a plot element stolen from the B-films of the 1930's: a secret code with a structure that would defy explanation by Carl Sagan. The film's over-the-top acting is used mostly for comic effect during the first 90 minutes. In an early running gag, Fay Grim's son Ned is so frequently told to leave that you can't help chuckling while feeling sorry for the lad. Parker Posey's nicely choreographed fall from bed also helps set a humorous tone early in the film.The film's slow pacing does not enhance the comedy elements or the drama elements that later emerge. The film's impact as drama is significantly lessened by the early comedy. Moreover, it is hard to be overly involved with the characters and their fates when the early portions of the film are so sarcastic. The musical score is intentionally heavy handed, and I found this (and the off-kilter camera angles) more irritating than humorous.The over-the-top acting, the implausible and nearly incomprehensible plot of conspiracies/counter conspiracies, and the slow pacing will grind on many viewers. The movie is much too long at 158 minutes.That said, fans who are receptive to the film's sarcasm might want to watch again ... using closed captioning to best catch the intelligent ridiculousness of the dialog. The film was too slow for me and the sarcasm felt more heavy-handed than light-hearted. But, the comedy may well appeal to your tastes. The film is worth a view for those who enjoy independent films, fans of director Hal Harley, or devotees of Parker Posey (who has the most camera time).

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