L'incroyable vérité

It would be true to say that there is not much action here, no bloody fights or car chases but it is just so endearing. Adrienne Shelly and Robert John Burke do well as lost idealist and not so new man in town respectively but everyone contributes. Hal Hartley performs magic with his inexperienced cast to involve us so inextricably with a developing and very human situation that really has nowhere to go. The dialogue is spot on and it is a joy to watch the character interchange and feel the tangible electricity between this disparate group as the electricity of past events, much mistold, unravel and retie. Masterful.

One of my (maybe even "the") all time favorite movies.

A film about some average people, basically. Maybe a bit weird, some of those people, but that's how people are, if you look closely. What makes it so rewatchable for me are the wonderful dialogues and the wonderful characters. They feel so true.

IMHO, the very tight budget and schedule helped this movie become so good. It is so... concise. Hardly a word or scene wasted.

If you like movies by Jim Jarmusch or Richard Linklater, you might like this one, too.

Mind you, it's a wafer thin storyline. A heart-warming little story of an ex-convict returning to a city, and the infatuation of the local Lolita has for him, it touches you, ever so softly, from behind the facade of the boisterous small town existence and the foibles of the small group of townspeople who form the nucleus of the story. At the end of it, you're glad you sat down to watch it - it's a laid-back mind-soother, which leaves you with a warm feeling all over.

What elevates the film by several rungs is, however, the superb performance of Robert Burke as the mercurial, unpredictable and enigmatic Joshua Hutton, who leaves you ambivalent about his real intentions till the very end, when all is revealed. Supporting him, ably, is the petite Adrienne Shelly, who may not be strictly pretty, but has an elfin charm - not really a little girl any more, but not yet a woman. They complement each other perfectly, and it is this chemistry that makes the film glow, and forms the perfect foil to the humdrum backdrop of everything else that is going on.

It's rewarding, and relaxing, viewing - a perfect de-stresser, if there ever was one. If you can get hold of a copy, hold on, tight.

This is a great movie! When I went to see it in 1990, I had no idea what it was about. I had a pass for a free screening. What luck that was--I have not been the same since. I love deadpan comedies, and this one is the best I've seen--it paved the way for Welcome to the Dollhouse and Bottle Rocket in 1996, and director Hal Hartley has become a well-known figure in the art house scene (too bad he has never been able to duplicate the success of his first movie). Robert John Burke plays the ex con mechanic, mistaken as a man of the cloth by several characters. Adrienne Shelley (where is she now?) plays the depressed teenager who falls in love with him, despite his mysterious past (did he really kill her best friend's sister?) Shelley appeared in Hartley's second film, Trust, and then made a low budget teen comedy (can't think of the title). Burke went on to replace Peter Weller as RoboCop and star in "Thinner." What a waste of two great talents! This movie has it all--romance, comedy, a quirky soundtrack, George Washington obsession, fun with crescent wrenches, and just a bit of drama. "Listen......bombs." See it!

Audry (Adrienne Shelly) is a brainy and beautiful girl living in Long Island. She has just been accepted to Harvard, no less, but has to bargain with her father about attending the famous school. She is just turning 18 and wants to major in literature. Father insists on her getting a part time job and choosing to study communications. At this moment on LI, also, a convicted man has just returned to his home turf. His name is Josh and no one is sure what he did, but it seems that he killed two or more people. Audry has a chance meeting with him and is smitten. She even gets him a job at her father's automobile shop. How in the world is this a match made in heaven? No description is really adequate to relate the events in this film. Rather than plot driven, it is a quirky, intelligent film where conversation and the unexpected reign mightily. The script is just stunning. Where else, I might suggest, can you view a film that offers explanations on the merits of Moliere's Misanthrope and the workings of a car's transmission apparatus? All of the actors, the costumes, the look, and the direction of the film are very, very worthy, too. (Sadly, Ms. Shelly was murdered in 2006 in NYC). There is a smattering of bad language and the subject matter is adult, so the movie is not suitable for an underage audience. Nevertheless, if you definitely want to take a walk down the aisle of vintage, independent films, pick this one up without delay. It is a gem, even years after its creation.