一场在丹麦地方富绅海吉豪宅中举行的周末家庭聚会是为了庆祝他六十岁大寿而筹办的他的儿子与媳妇女友与男友还有几位亲友齐聚一堂为他庆生不过原来该是融洽的热闹的晚宴却笼罩着诡异的气氛仿佛海吉两周前自杀身亡的女儿阴魂犹在岂知早逝女孩的双胞兄弟击杯起身发言控诉父亲乱伦并谋杀亲生女儿引爆了席间的争议对立而在此状况下这群人不得不采取先发制人的手段……
Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley#39;s early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality though using sex for several years; obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively – and simultaneously – complex and simple Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich eg, her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot – culminating her doing nude but unseen work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone quot;I#39;m a mechanicquot;, yet the symbolism is rich he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy is, in fact a virgin, and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played The scene between Josh and Jane a wonderful, young Edie Falco quot;You need a woman not a girlquot; is hilarious real But Hartley can#39;t leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue overandover becomes frustratingly quot;artyquot; and annoying until again it becomes hilarious What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film like kids in a perpetual quot;am notquot;/quot;are tooquot; argument Hartley#39;s weaves all of a small neighborhood#39;s idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the quot;unbelievable truthquot; of the title is, yet no two people can agree including our hero on what exactly that truth is A wonderful little movie with some big ideas
