Right after seeing this movie I have realized that I’ve been mixing up Richard Linklater with Hal Hartley. In fact, I thought they were both the same person as their movies are so much alike. You may characterize their work as being a philosophical suburban grotesque as one IMDb reviewer has said. And he is so right. Almost all of the work done by both directors falls into this category and Simple Men is no different.
The story is actually quite absurd, as it follows two brothers travelling from New York to Long Island. One in search of their father, other trying to escape from the police. While absurd may it not sound, absurd in fact it is. Other thing to mention are the quotes from the movie. Here’s the one I like the most:
– You shouldn’t do that [kiss me].
– Why not?
– Because I’m your father’s girlfriend.
– My father is a womanizer. He’s a married man and he stood you up.
– You have no respect for your father.
– I don’t know him, but I respect his taste in women.
– So then go and make love to your mother.
Simple Men is filled with similar dialogs from top to bottom. The movie is a very enjoyable ride. As they say Long Island is a state of mind. Or was it New York?
Rating: 8/10
Or is it – confusion is a state of mind? (permanent) I think Linklater is somehow closer to real life, and Hartley to philosophy. But that’s just my subjective POV
That would probably be the original quote. Mine is just its variation.
But I’m aware of the fact. I was just kidding :) Just another variation – so to call it.
BTW does the original (with New York in it) come from “Northern Exposure” or is it Woody A.? Ot is it this sort of quotation that appears everywhere and there is no source for it anymore…
I’ve heard it in so many movies, that I lost the track of the source of it. In fact, I believe I never knew who said it first.
It is so postmodern, isn’t it?
Well… and now I feel a bit like tracking it down. But it might be a pointless task. But somebody must have said it for the first time.
Well, first, in the seventieth century, it was New Amsterdam. I could bet that the phrase was coined in the twentieth century by some filmmaker or painter. That’s like for sure.
little offtopic question – these rating stars ? a wp-plugin, or handmade ? if first – please point me to the source ;]
It’s half handmade. I took the idea from Structured blogging and wrote down my own plugin, which only converts the text “Rating 8/10” into those stars. It’s a very simple plugin, which requires certain images in certain directory. If you want, I can send the source to you (or write a blog post about it).