Henry Fool + Fay Grim

Tuesday, March 31, 2015

The evening before the release of NED RIFLE, the final chapter in Hal Hartley’s Henry Fool Trilogy, see the first two installments on the big screen in 35mm prints, with director Hal Hartley and stars Thomas Jay Ryan and Parker Posey in person! Double feature — two films for one ticket price

HENRY FOOL (1997, 137 min.) at 7:00pm, followed by a Q&A with Hartley, Ryan, and Posey

“Looser, more expansive and certainly more scatological than Hartley’s earlier work, this very funny, finally touching fable focuses on the way Henry Fool (Ryan) – a bawdy, rebellious, intellectually gifted drifter, and quite possibly a charlatan – transforms the lives of the inhabitants of a small town: notably, shy, put-upon Simon Grim (James Urbaniak), who under Fool’s auspices becomes both celebrated as a writer and demonised as a pornographer; his promiscuous sister (Posey) and depressive mother (Porter). For all its outrageous black humour, however, it remains a Hartley movie, with its wittily stylised dialogue, droll performances, crisp camerawork and its profoundly ironic musings on the nature of art and its status in society – musings which surely reflect on Hartley’s own status as an ambitious but marginalised film-maker.” – Time Out (London)

FAY GRIM (2006, 118 min.) at 9:45pm, intro by Hartley, Ryan, and Posey

“Hartley’s eight-years-on sequel to HENRY FOOL finds the abandoned wife (Posey) of the scumbag anti-hero of the earlier film trying to find out what became of him; as theories and revelations to his true identity, activities and whereabouts emerge, it posits a past for him that embraces and evokes political turmoil worldwide… There are good gags, nice turns from Goldblum and Ryan, and an excellent lead in the dependable Posey.” – Time Out (London)

IFC Center does not generally provide advisories about subject matter or potentially triggering content in films, as sensitivities vary from person to person. In addition to the synopses, trailers and other links on our website, further information about content and age-appropriateness for specific films can be found on Common Sense Media, IMDb and DoesTheDogDie.com as well as through general internet searches.