Simple Men

Ned - "I want adventure. I want Romance."

Bill - "Ned, there's no such thing as adventure, there's no such thing as romance. There's only trouble and desire."

Ned - "Trouble and desire?"

Bill - "That's right. And the funny thing is when you desire something, you immediately get in trouble. When you're in trouble, you don't desire anything at all.

Ned - "I see."

Bill - "It's impossible"

Ned - "It's ironic"

Bill - "It's a fucking tragedy is what it is Ned."
Simple Men, 1992, Hal Hartley-Dir.

I love Hal Hartley movies. Every one that I've seen. There are a few I haven't caught, yet. But Simple Men holds a special place in my heart because it's the first one I saw. I was browsing the selection at Popcorn Video in Newport, Tennessee one evening. Nothing looked good and then I saw the box for it. Yes, it was a tape. This was 1993. DVD was still a ways away.

I'm still surprised they had this flick. It was Newport after all. Not exactly a hotbed for indie enthusiasm. I had been a movie junkie for years. I even had a subscription to Premiere magazine back in '89. But, I hadn't heard of Hal Hartley. So, I watched it and was enthralled. Then Amateur opened at the Terrace Theater in Knoxville and I raced to see it. Enthralled once again. Being before the internet age, I had to go to the book store and look up any info about Hartley I could find. I got a list of his movies to date and started looking for them in video stores.

Basically, I was hooked. Simple Men introduced me to the Hartley "style" of movie making. Kind of like a play. A little theater of the absurd. Quirky, halted dialog. And amazing musical arrangements done by Hartley himself. I could listen to the opening scores from most of his movies all day long. The best is from Amateur. Haunting and beautiful. Classic.

Probably his best, most complete film is Fay Grim. It's the sequel to Henry Fool. But, Simple Men is still my favorite. It's all about love with a little bit of domestic terrorism thrown in.

Why am I writing about this? Don't know. I love the exchange between Ned and Bill and was thinking about it. So I got on Netflix and watched that part to make sure I got it right. I thought I would bore you with it.

That's the point, right? Write down what's on your mind. Well, I don't want to think about my job situation and lack of money. I don't give a shit about politics and I don't watch the news. Call me ignorant, but I'm depressed enough without having to see the rest of the horrors in the world. So, lately my mind has been a little bit Mitty, a little bit string theory and a little bit trouble 'n desire.

I have trouble putting my thoughts down on "paper". It looks like a child's writing to me. Add to that the fact that someone else may (and I stress, may) read this and I get very self conscious. This is one of the reasons that I'm totally in awe of Paula and Sue. They're writing styles are very different, but equally amazing.

Paula's writing is so personal. Heart wrenching and hilarious. Caustic and hopeful. All at the same time. She's like a whirlwind.

Sue's is straight from the heart, too. But it reads like a conversation. Almost as if someone wrote down exactly what she was telling them. Well thought out and complete. She gets her point across and I understand exactly what she's saying. And there isn't a lot of extra bullshit. I find that so hard to do. Get my point across, writing or speaking, without going on and on.

I constantly check to see if they have posted anything new. I'm addicted to both.

"Be good to her and she'll be good to you." - Bound Security Guard, Simple Men, 1992