The cinema of Hal Hartley

the long version

Hal Hartley is considered one of the most significant contributors to the American 'independent' cinema that flowered in the late 1980's and that now occupies a very important place in the American film landscape. Through a detailed discussion of all of Hartley's short and feature-length films, from cult classics such as 'The unbelievable truth' and 'Trust' to oddball genre experiments such as 'No such thing' and 'Fay grim' to shorts such as 'Opera No. 1' and 'Accomplice' and their cultural-economic contexts, this books looks at how Hartley's cultural position has shifted as a result both of his bold career choices and of contextual changes in 1990s and 2000s American film.