Trust
A Film by Hal Hartley
Catalog No. MC-503
Feature,
Narrative
1990, 107 minutes
DVD,
Region: 4
TV System: PAL
UPC: 9322225040793
Label: Possible Films
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Maria is a self-centered teenage suburban brat, until she gets pregnant by her un-loving quarterback boyfriend and gives her father a fatal heart attack. Matthew is a rowdy and disillusioned computer engineer with a vicious temper. Disowned by her devastated mom, dumped by her boyfriend, and shunned by her friends, Maria wanders the streets and bumps into Matthew. These two exiles fall in together and set out trying to become a normal, domestic, suburban couple. But these troubled lives evolve in unexpected ways and Maria grows into a responsible person that few conventional notions of "ordinary" can contain.
This DVD has never been screened
Reviews and Other Info:
2006-09-28 Cinematic Reflections
By Derek Smith
In all the hype of the 1990s independent film movement, it's amazing that Hal Hartley's Trust, likely the best of the bunch, still remains relatively obscure. It's uncompromising comic vision turns audience expectations on its proverbial head, making for an alternatingly bizarre, moving, tender, and funny filmgoing experience. The opening sequences introducing the two protagonists - Maria, the not-so-bright 17-year old troublemaker who's just been kicked out of school and Matthew, the 30-something intelligent but anti-social outsider. The film opens with a close up of Marie smearing on purple lipstick and repeatedly asking her father for $5, or as she says it "fiyve dallers". There is a disjointed dialogue between her and her parents where they all seem to be talking to each other but not with each other, a trait which runs throughout the film. When she reveals she has been once again kicked out of high school and is pregnant, her father calls her a slut and tells her to get. After slapping him and storming out, he drops dead on the kitchen floor, a catchy rock song pulsates in the background database/leading into the opening credit. And that pretty much sets the tone of the film, where anything and everything can happen, but it usually ends up being something you wouldn't imagine.
Matthew's home life is equally dysfunctional. His domineering father is a suffocating presence leaving Matthew barely able to express himself without sending him into a tirade. When Matthew and Maria meet, they are both at rock-bottom and unable to connect to anyone. It is here where Trust catapults from mere quirky indie feature territory into something dark, beautiful, and completely original. The plot follows the typical trajectory of us vs. the world relationship films, but with a strange array of characters, witty, overlapping dialogue, and offbeat situations, Hartley is able to subvert the cliche's he takes on and craft a poignant film about alienation, angst, and obviously, trust in modern America. Some of the material, the abortion protests for example, may seem a bit stuck-in-the-90s, but the emotions and mental states of his characters are universally identifiable even in their exaggerated weirdness.
Trust is certainly not a surreal film, as comparison's some critics have made between Hal Hartley and David Lynch, but the universe where it takes place often feels otherwordly even when the sets are typical suburban homes and workplaces. The unique pacing and delivery of the dialogue may be it's most important and unique asset. Characters often respond to one another at the very second the other stops or have simultaneous monologues where they seem to express their personal subconscious thoughts while somehow carrying on a conversation. Maria and Matthew exist as two distinct individuals in an environment which constantly reinforces conformity, obedience, and the sacrifice of one's principals. It is refreshing to find a film so willing to embrace the misfits and outsiders who don't fall in line without turning them into mere trophies of social rebellion. They are, by normal standards, screw-ups, but are both more human and genuinely likeable than their more traditional counterparts. Their love for one another is a small ray of hope in Hartley's unique world, where everything honest and real is eventually stamped out or carved into something recognizable. It is a bold film that defies logic and the rules of screenwriting making it difficult to articulate exactly what makes it so damn likeable. |
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Exhibition:
Program MC-503 may be licensed for exhibition |
Purchasing for Home Use
This DVD is available from the Microcinema DVD Store |
Institutional Purchasing
This DVD is available from the Microcinema DVD Store |
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This is a PAL, Region 4 and may not play in all DVD players. |
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Wholesale Purchasing:
Program MC-503 is available for wholesale from Microcinema DVD. Contact info@microcinema.com or call at +1-415-447-9750 |
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