Simple Men

Starring:Robert John Burke, Bill Sage, Karen Sillas, Elina LÃ¶wensohn, Martin Donovan (II), Mark Chandler Bailey, Chris Cooke, Jeffrey Howard, Holly Marie Combs, Joe Stevens, Damian Young, Marietta Marich, John MacKay, Bethany Wright, Richard Reyes, James Hansen Prince, Ed Geldart, Vivian Lanko, Alissa Alban, Margaret Bowman
Director: Hal Hartley
Studio: Image Entertainment
Product Type: DVD

Amazon.com

Simple Men opens with small-time hood Bill (Robert Burke from RoboCop 3) asking a bound and blindfolded security guard if he can have the guard's Virgin Mary medallion. "Be good to her and she'll be good to you," says the guard. Immediately after, Bill is double-crossed by his girlfriend and his partner. From there, the plot goes off in a completely different direction: Bill and his younger brother Dennis (William Sage, High Art), a philosophy student, go off in search of their father, a former star shortstop who may have committed a bombing many years ago. Their only clue is a phone number on Long Island; they end up at a cafe run by Kate (Karen Sillas, Female Perversions), which is also the hangout for Elina Löwensohn (Nadja) and Martin Donovan (Hollow Reed, The Opposite of Sex). But plot is never the point in Hal Hartley movies (Trust, Amateur, Henry Fool); it's just a clothesline on which to hang odd, quirky scenes--moments like Donovan and Sage trying to imitate Löwensohn's dance movements to a Sonic Youth song, or a half-drunken conversation about pop music and self-exploitation. Hartley's deliberately stilted dialogue and stylized performances actually play better on video; the movie feels more intimate, making the humor more relaxed and fluid. Hartley is the kind of idiosyncratic filmmaker who provokes love-him-or-hate-him responses, but there's a deep sincerity to his artifice that goes beyond mere posing. Against all commercial wisdom, he's struggling to find his own cinematic poetry. Such an uncommon aspiration is worth checking out. --Bret Fetzer

Description

What do you do if your father, a former all-star shortstop and mad bomber anarchist, breaks out of jail? Go after him, of course! Two brothers trek through the deep, dark wilds of Long Island, only to discover that sometimes even the oddest things really are just what they seem. Directed by independent film favorite Hal Hartley (The UnbelievableTruth, Amateur, Trust) Starring Robert John Burke (Tombstone, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind), Bill Sage (American Psycho, Boiler Room), Karen Sillas (The Sopranos, CSI Miami), Elina Lowensohn (Schindler's List, Nadja), and Martin Donovan (Insomnia, The Opposite of Sex).

Customer Reviews:

Intelligent and absurdist filmmaking -- you will walk away smiling and thinking.......2007-06-02

Hal Hartley's best films are intellectual candy. They are full of provocations and delights, little moments that are both enigmatic and profoundly simple and true. This one is my favorite, at least so far. Two men on a search for their father, who may or may not be guilty of a profound wrong or disastrous mistake. Two women waiting for something or someone. In outline, the basic plot sounds like any number of Hollywood dramas or romantic comedies, but in this film there is something so fresh about the dialogue with its musical punctuation and simple but unique staging. The style he employs here, of characters speaking like they were in a soap opera -- not quite acting but emoting and standing as mouthpiece for a play of ideas that is tied to the action -- works when it is subtle and simple as it is in this film (and in others like Henry Fool). Taken to an extreme it can become a bit annoying, as in Fay Grim which feels just too big and unwieldy to work. Here it is just right, and at just the right moments is broken by absurdly funny set pieces like a spontaneous musical outburst in response to the Sonic Youth or a cigarette-smoking nun who assaults a police officer. Hartley is the closest we have to an American Godard. Definitely a keeper.

Wonderful movie, indifferent transfer.......2006-07-31

I won't speak to the joys of this movie...others have done so here much more eloquently than I ever could. I will, however, note that there are a few technical aspects of this dvd that bothered me. First is the aspect ratio. Hal Hartley is a master at framing a shot, and there are many times in this release that his framing is ruined, because the top or bottom is lopped off. There are also scenes in which a mood was set using dark, heavily tinted light. Thanks to (I assume) automated conversion to dvd, those scenes have been altered so they appear to take place in nice, bland sunlight.

I won't go as far as recommend against buying the disc...the movie is excellent. But you should be aware that some small part of what made this such a wonderful movie has been lost.

Deeply Felt.......2005-07-25

I'm not one to go in length about films on Amazon, but I'll write a short little bit for this amazing film. I first saw this 10 years ago when I was in my teens and have never forgotten it, it really touched something inside of me, much like a great piece of art would affect you after seeing it up close for the first time.

"Trouble and Desire" = Another Terrific Hartley Project.......2005-06-22

Hal Hartley never fails to entertain, never fails to engage my mind and emotions on a parallel level. Simple Men is no exception. The seemingly simple plot - two brothers in search of their missing dad - provides so much room for character growth that I wish there were an entire series of films centered around them.

With a hard-edged view of the world as: "There's no such thing as adventure. There's no such thing as romance. There's only trouble and desire" (actually from a Fritz Lang movie of the 1920's) there's plenty going on to both prove and disprove Hartley's ambivalent theories.

Simple Men also formally introduces us to the absolutely delicious Elena Löwensohn. In one of the coolest and hottest scenes in all of cinema we get to watch her bizarre 50's beatnik-style dance to Sonic Youth's "Kool thing." Then joined by the two lost soul brothers it turns into an unlikely production number.

Many dismiss this film, and Hartley as unwatchable or trivial and miss the point. What is amazing about Hartley is that he takes the seemingly trivial and elevates it to a level of art that, once seen, reflects our lives on every level from brilliance to the inane.

Simple Men is pure cinematic delight.

Hooray for Hartley!

poor effort.......2004-06-13

This is one of Hartley's lesser efforts.
He recycles characters and mannerisms to
the point of tedium. It's too bad
considering his many other fine films.

Hapkido - Simple Self Defense for Men and Women, Vol. 1

Average customer rating:

Editorial Review and Product Description:

Hapkido - Simple Self Defense for Men and Women, Vol. 1
Starring: Grandmaster Larry Hampton , Tony Miller , and Heidi Montgomery
Director: Larry Hampton
Manufacturer: Grandmaster Hampton
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Special Interests | Genres | DVD | Video

General | Fitness & Yoga | Genres | DVD | Video

DVDs Under $14.99 | Today's Deals in DVD | Special Features | DVD | Video

( H ) | Titles | Features | DVD | Video
ASIN: B00021984Q
Release Date: 2004-05-18

Customer Reviews:

Editorial Review and Product Description:.......2006-03-26

About the Actor/Martial Artist:
Grandmaster Larry Hampton is an 8th degree black belt in Hapkido and Taekwondo, who has over 30 years of training and 25 years of teaching experinece in various martial arts including Taekwondo, Hapkido, Karate, Aikido, and Judo. Grandmaster Hampton's philosophy is based on developing character, not the purpose of harming other human beings.

Product Description:
The Colorado Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do Association presents this instructional video for basic self defense techniques. This includes techniques involving grabs, chokes, holds, plus various ways to avoid and defend oneself against an assailant. All techniques are demonstrated and narrarated by Grandmaster Hampton. In addition, assistants Tony Miller and Heidi Montgomery show the techniques being demonstrated by a woman or smaller person.

Spanking the Monkey/Simple Men/Lucky Stiff

Average customer rating:

Spanking the Monkey/Simple Men/Lucky Stiff
Starring: Spanking the Monkey , Simple Men , and Lucky Stiff
ProductGroup: DVD
Binding: DVD

General | Comedy | Genres | DVD | Video
ASIN: B000S6LS34
Release Date: 2007-09-11

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