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Possible Films - Short Works By Hal Hartley 1994-2004
In preparation for the Sundance Film Festival premiere of The Girl From Monday, Hartley has self-released a DVD of short film projects, often commissioned by foreign television stations or art galleries and shot over the last decade. The projects, as he writes on the DVD liner notes, are sketches – "concentrated efforts to study, practice, discover and mess around."
The included shorts are:
Opera No. 1: Probably the funniest and most accessible short on the disc. Hartley shrinks a full-length opera into eight minutes, including smoking angels on rollerblades and with decorative wrist-guards. Starring James Urbaniak (who would later star in Henry Fool) and Parker Posey, Opera also mocks many of the artifices of filmed musical theater – bad lip-syncing abounds.
The Other Also: Two out of focus people move around in front of a window for seven minutes. A bit over my head. The musical accompaniment (Hartley composed much of the music for the shorts on Possible Films, as well) is beautiful, but the images don't really resonate, making the entire exercise forgettable.
The New Math(s): A magic formula is at the center of this farcical kung-fu short. Featuring the first in-focus appearance of Hartley's wife, Miho Nikaido, the 14 wordless minutes scream by, even if, at the end, the viewer isn't exactly sure of the point. There's another excellent score here, this time from Dutch composer Louis Andriessen.
NYC 3/94: Possibly the worst looking of the shorts (the film quality is that of bad pornography), this short was commissioned by a European television producer, asking for filmmakers to shoot a short about their hometown. NYC takes on a war zone feel here thanks to added gunfire effects, while citizens go about their daily business, never really volunteering to help. It's amazing how, seven years later, these stereotypes of New Yorkers would be shattered when NYC really did resemble a war zone on a fall Tuesday morning. Dwight Euell, best known for opening up fake fire on a comic book convention at the beginning of a Kevin Smith film, makes an appearance, along with Urbaniak.
The Sisters of Mercy: The most intriguing short on the disc, and probably my favorite as an actor, is comprised solely of outtakes and in-between take time during the filming of another short. Posey and Sabrina Lloyd are the actors here, but the "star" is the interaction between the two of them and the off-screen Hartley. It's a documentary of shorts about the trust that goes into allowing another person to manipulate you in front of a camera.
Kimono: The most beautifully photographed short on the disc stars Nikaido as an abandoned bride, running through a forest. Working with no dialogue, Hartley and Nikaido combine to sketch a beautiful picture of loneliness and coming to grips with what we are, physical nature aside. This was originally part of a German television series entitled "Erotic Tales."
Regarding "Soon" and Excerpts from "Soon": Two featurettes focusing on Hartley's controversial play, which examines the 7th Day Adventists.
The DVD
Video:
With most of the shorts on the disc conceived for television, they are presented in full frame video, as intended. The transfer is fantastic, especially considering that Hartley's Possible Films is self-releasing the disc through his Web site. Most of the flaws are contained in the source material, including some frame rolling on NYC 3/94. There seems to have been no remastering attempted.
Audio:
A Dolby 2.0 track is nice, considering that the films themselves were not recorded in a way that would lend itself to a full 5.1 mix without serious post-production work. It is tough, however, in Kimono and Opera No. 1, to listen without wanting a little more from the score.
Extras:
None.
Final Thoughts:
Possible Films: Short Works by Hal Hartley is not for the average movie watcher. It is, in many ways, a portrait of Hartley himself; it's more immediate and more personal than a full-length film can be, because of the short turnaround time and the freedom to explore one issue for a short, concentrated time. For those that are willing to put in the effort and are willing to be challenged, Hartley's works here are fascinating.
(NOTE: This title is availble through Hartley's Web site, http://www.possiblefilms.com)
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