Trust - fidati

TRUST (1990) *** Adrienne Shelly and Martin Donovan shine as a pregnant, naive teen who is befriended by troubled loner-type, respectively, in this sharply written satire/black comedy/and at times gimmicky bloodless acting (but that's also the warped appeal) that brings into question the monotony of dreary jobs, thankless relationships and bad parenting. Directed by Hal Hartley in his signature solemnity.

When high school dropout Maria Coughlin (Adrienne Shelly) announces her pregnancy to her parents, her father drops dead on the floor. Her mother kicks her out of the house and her boyfriend dumps her, so Maria is left alone and homeless.

Martin Donovan really excels here and represents a type of person some of us know all too well. The man who rebels against the world, but in a sort of passive-aggressive, nihilistic fashion. It is interesting that this film came out in 1990, as the 90s were very much a nihilistic decade for film and music, and the character of Matthew Slaughter sort of anticipates that.

Hal Hartley may not be as well known as Jim Jarmusch or (early) Richard Linklater, but he has that same independent vibe. He has done here for Long Island what Linklater did for Austin.

I quite enjoyed this movie but it's difficult to explain what made it stand out to me. Despite being released in 1990 it feels like it has more 80s charm than some of those awful 90s teen movies. It has a tone to it more akin to Heathers.

There's not much in the way of plot but the actors really sell the roles without ever being reduced to caricatures. Adrienne Shelly was lovely and you buy her relationship with Martin Donovan. I doubt this movie could get made these days but him being in a relationship with a highschool girl is well-written. It is not overtly sexual and he is not made to be a predator preying on a naive teenager. If anything, she is more emotionally developed than him so the terms of their coupling seem to be dictated by her.

Lastly, this movie is impressively shot. Nicely composed shots, great use of close-ups for emotional scenes a few tracking shots that I thought were excellent.

All in all, it feels like a movie that could have been forgotten about but is well worth your while to check out.

I first saw this film in 1990 while I was in college and I loved it. I watched it over and over on VHS. I told everyone that this was my favorite movie of all time and watched every Hal Hartley movie I could find. Last night I stumbled across Trust on Netflix Instant and I thought I'd check it out to see if this film that I was so passionate about when I was 20 years old held up over time or if the 40 year old me would find it silly or dated. To my surprise I was blown away all over again by how ridiculously great it is. The smart stylized dialog, the music, the starkness, the silences, the camera framing, all of the whacked out but fully human characters, Martin Donovan and Adrienne Shelly so young and beautiful. As the final, simple, beautiful, frame of the film disappeared and credits rolled I was left sitting on the couch in a state of shocked amazement at the effect this film still has on me. Hands down my favorite movie of all time!

Director Hal Hartley's second movie fascinated me when it was first released in 1990 and now I am still fascinated by it when I saw it this very night. Why do I feel this specific fascination? Because Hal Hartley's direction style is unique; this director uses his characters as chess pieces, who mentally (and sometimes physically) attack each other in a story about family life, in which love is synonym for hate.

It's a story about a mother and a father, who both hate their children, but who are fearful of losing their children anyway, because hate is all they have got...

However sad my above description may sound this movie is lighthearted and gentle and comical in a subtle way. And it is quite touching. Highly recommended for the art house movie fans of intelligent, subtle, quirky dramatic comedies.