Fay Grim (2008), by Hal Hartley, is superficial and ridiculous.
A sequel to Hartley’s odious Henry Fool, it stars the gifted Parker Posey as a bemused woman, Fay Grim, who is patently not much of a character but must endure intelligence officials and locate her missing husband, Henry Fool, at the same time. Semi-political comedy not at all funny, it tells of the CIA’s fervent interest in the possibility that Henry has written a code which, as J. Hoberman puts it, “amounts to a secret, highly damning history of the Reagan Era.” Close to every artistic choice Hartley has made in FG is highly damning to his film. Again, it’s superficial, but also the tone falls apart, the camera is always tilted, the story is monstrously intricate, the whole blasted movie is foolishly offputting. A Grim situation.
Fay Grim (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
