Main Cast: Adrienne Shelly, Robert John Burke, Chris Cooke, Julia McNeal, Gary Sauer
Release Year: 1990
Country: US
Run Time: 90 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Writer-director Hal Hartley's first feature -- shot in less than 12 days in his backyard for a mere $200,000 -- is a dry and dark comedy about the dangerous undercurrents that exist below the surface of normal middle class existence. Over the credits, Josh (Robert Burke), a man garbed in black, is seen hitch-hiking back to his Long Island home. People ask him, "Are you a priest?" and Josh responds, "No. I'm a mechanic." Back in Long Island in the town of Lindenhurst, beautiful and somber 17-year-old Audry (Adrienne Shelly) is busy worrying about the forthcoming apocalypse. Josh arrives in Lindenhurst and is hired by Audry's father (Chris Cooke) as a mechanic at his garage. But Audry's father worries about him, particularly when he falls in love with Audry. Her father's problems compound when Audry dumps her old boyfriend and rejects an invitation to attend Harvard. The whole town is now gossiping about Audry's new boyfriend, with rumors spreading that Josh is a mass murderer who killed two members of the family of local waitress Pearl (Julia McNeal). Pearl tells Audry, "He seems like a nice man." Audry responds, "Even though he killed your father and your sister?" Audry finally makes her father happy when she tells him she won't see Josh again, but dad's relief is short-lived when Audry informs him she's moving to New York to become an underwear model. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Review
The dark comedy The Unbelievable Truth, Hal Hartley's low-budget debut feature, would set the tone for the next decade of this director's filmmaking style. Rapid-paced and monotone, the witty deadpan dialogue is the high point of this tale of an ex-con meeting a depressed teenager. While exposing the workaday eccentricities of Long Island townsfolk, Hartley reveals an underlying dark side to seemingly average characters. The close-knit cast and crew, the simple yet effective cinematography, and the extra short shooting schedule (less than two weeks) make this novice effort a touchstone of independent cinema. Adrienne Shelly is well cast as the obsessive Audry, giving a thoughtful performance to what could have been an angsty-teen stereotype role, and Robert Burke is also remarkable, fueling his character with sex appeal as the mysterious Josh. Erratic side characters flesh out the small town with understated grace, and the character pairings at the mechanic's shop make for some seriously dry comedy. While the story line could be termed a soap opera, Hartley infuses enough originality and depth to make it both plausible and compelling. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, All Movie Guide
Mark Bailey - Mike; Katherine Mayfield - Liz Hugo; Mike Brady - Bob; Mary Flynn - Girl at Counter; David Healy - Todd Whitbread; Jeffrey Howard - Irate Driver; Matt Malloy - Otis; Bill Sage - Gus; Tom Thon - News Vendor; Ross Turner - Their Son; Kelly Reichardt - His Wife; Paul Schulze - Bill; Edie Falco - Jane (The Waitress)
Credit
Hal Hartley - Co-producer, Bruce Weiss - Co-producer, Kelly Reichardt - Costume Designer, Hal Hartley - Director, Hal Hartley - Editor, Jerome Brownstein - Executive Producer, The Brothers Kendall - Composer (Music Score), Wild Blue Yonder - Composer (Music Score), Jim Coleman - Composer (Music Score), Judy Chin - Makeup, Carla Gerona - Production Designer, Michael Spiller - Cinematographer, Bob Gosse - Production Manager, Sarah Stollman - Set Designer, Hal Hartley - Screenwriter
The Unbelievable Truth, like most early Hartley films, is a study of relationships, but here the tension is between expectation and reality.
Beautiful Audrey is expected to remain with her high-school quarterback boyfriend and become a successful fashion model, but she instead becomes interested in a man of mystery, a man with at least one manslaughter in his past. Many characters speculate about how many people he might have killed, and the stories of his past are taller every time they're told. A genius mechanic who is uncomfortable with relationships, he has to learn to adapt to the interest of this woman supposedly beyond his reach, and to learn to trust his instincts when he has to fight to win her back.
