Rating: 
Summary: A consummate achievement.
Review: 'Simple Men' seems, after Hartley's three previous superb films ('The Unbelievable Truth,' 'Trust,' 'Surviving Desire'), to have reached such a tremendous height, and to have given body to such an imperious standard of excellence, that his subsequent work ('Amateur,' 'Flirt,' 'Henry Fool') suffers rather awfully by inevitable comparison. One can only hope that Hartley will prove this judgement of sharp decline to have applied only to a relatively brief phase in his creative production, for he is clearly one of the best American filmmakers alive today.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing
Review: A few years ago I was looking for some movie in TV when in wrong move I put one of this channels you never watch cos the quality of the image is bad and the movies are in my spoken languaje (spanish, I prefer with subtitles). I don't remember what scene but I remember the face of Robert John Burke from Robocop III, talking some very clever dialogues. After just a few minutes I couldn't change the channel till the movie ends leaving me absolutely impress.
Just a few weeks later by the same reason I catch "Trust" and from this same moment I became fan of Hal Hartley.
Why?
Because after years watching more than one hundred different movies of any style and director, Simple men and the rest of the Hartley's work show me another vision of life and another way to make movies, thinking more in a good and very deep script with a few good actors than a good budget with great special effects.
It reminds me the movies of Terrence Malick, because in the chaos of the existence both directors show the path of the real survivors, not those guys who are born to be heroes, just those one only wanna some moment of peace and true love, that's it's more than all the glory of the universe.
Rating:
Summary: Hartley's best?
Review: Arguably the best of Hartley's feature films. Shot like a play with very little action and movement, it draws attention and gives meaning to what motion there is. As with Hartley's other films, the dialog and metaphors are what make it great. The religious connotations throughout range from the subtle to the obvious. "Be good to her, and she'll be good to you."
Rating: 
Summary: Why isn't this film maker famous?
Review: As a film fan with a brand new DVD player, my first priority in begining my movie library was to obtain a copy of 'Simple Men', and another Hal Hartley film, 'The Unbelievable Truth'. I have been unable to track down the latter, but was happy to find more Hartley films available. I believe fans of 'Repo Man' and 'Clerks' would be very pleased with 'Simple Men'. I just hope Hartley's great films make onto the more durable DVD format. Hartley fans need to unite!
Rating:
Summary: Everything always exists.
Review: Everything always exists
Rating:
Summary: There's only trouble & desire.
Review: First thing's first, Hal Hartley's films will probably never be everyone's "cup of tea." That said, he is one of the most gifted film-makers to emerge in the past decade or so. In the same year that yielded such wonderful American movies as "Bob Roberts," "The Player," and "Night on Earth," "Simple Men" stands tall as a wonderful contribution to world cinema.In an interview, Hartley once said that he disputed people saying he wasn't a traditional fim-maker. He argued that he was a traditional film-maker, but that his tradition was people like Bertolt Brecht and Andy Warhol. Evolving from that (alternative) tradition, Hartley is a master of understatement, both as a writer and a director. Because of this, he is often able to reveal simple truths with more emotional impact than many more superficially passionate films. While some of his subsequent films have been more ambitious (and in some ways even better) than this one, "Simple Men" is the one that sticks with me like no other. The film is many things: a road movie, a quest, a love story. It begins as a bookish and somewhat naive son's quest to learn the truth about his father (a noted short-stop and political fugitive). He is accompanied by his older brother, who joins his quest for more material reasons. The quest takes them to a place which feels both completely concrete yet somehow divorced from reality. In this place, the younger brother learns a great deal more about life, while the older brother discovers depths of feeling and commitment within himself that he never imagined he had. Trying to give a literal description of this film's plot would do it an injustice, because that plot is ultimately a means to explore the intriguing characters who make their way through it. Suffice it to say that after watching it, you will be surprised at how moving this film is and how honest it is about the relationships which bind men and women together.
Rating:
Summary: Simple Men on DVD
Review: For all you Hal Hartley fans who have desired having a copy of Simple Men on DVD, your time has come. Simple Men will be released on DVD widescreen format January 27, 2004. I can't wait to get my copy!!!
Rating:
Summary: Simple Men on DVD
Review: For all you Hal Hartley fans who have desired having a copy of Simple Men on DVD, your time has come. Simple Men will be released on DVD widescreen format January 27, 2004. I can't wait to get my copy!!!
Rating:
Summary: Great Film!!!!
Review: Great flick, one of Hal's greatest. Finally on DVD!!! I'm so happy Tristar has been releasing Hal Hartley's movies on DVD. Great to add to any indie collection. Witty dialogue and clever storyline.
Rating:
Summary: Word Games or Art?
Review: Hal Hartley's ultra clever, purposely stylized, dialogue driven "Simple Men" seems like an exercise in clever wordplay. The characters appear to be mainly props or mouthpieces for Hartley's witty and caustic repartee. If that was all there was to this perceptive film, one could admire the words but dismiss the film as one would a puppet show. Paying close attantion to what is being said, however, will reveal that the film has great heart and depth and is a mediatation on relationships and the pain of lost love. Two brothers are on the trail of their outlaw, left-over-from-the sixties- radical, father. Along the way, a multitude of serious subjects from politics to sexual exploitation of women to the nature of right and wrong are humorously bantered about by the characters. What truly drives these characters, however, is their utter loss to explain why their relationships constantly fail and cause them so much pain and heartache. The sheriff sums up most of the characters' feelings in a brilliant, stream of consciousness, monologue and says that "love is like sticking an ice pick through your forehead...Why do I do it?" Hartley's question is what most of us have asked ouselves after a failed relationsship. Why do we keep coming back for more when the result is always pain? One is reminded of a similar theme and question in Woody Allen's "Annie Hall". The answer, of course, is that we need it no matter what the cost; just like we need original filmakers like Hal Hartley who are willing to experiment, take risks and present ideas in innovative and creative ways.
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