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Fay Grim is very slanted in its presentation of the material. Literally. The entire film was shot using only Dutch, or canted, angles, (definition for those not in the know: the camera is tilted so the shot is composed with the horizon at an angle to the bottom of the frame). I do not know Hartley’s reasoning in regards to this but as you might imagine when something not commonly employed becomes the standard, after a while the mind corrects the tilting and it barely becomes noticeable. Perhaps it’s as simple as creating a world where everything has become skewed all the time. (Fun fact: there are two scenes in the film that were shot normal by accident and the “mistake” was not caught. I was able to catch one during this viewing.)

In an interview given at the time of the film’s release, Hartley was questioned as to the idea of making a sequel to a film like Henry Fool and revealed that it was always his intention to continue on in that particular universe with those particular characters, just not in the manner that might be expected. He is right to consider Henry Fool (the movie and the character) so vast as to contain multitudes. Much like its title character’s oft-discussed but never quoted from (well almost never) work in progress, Henry Fool spills over with sloppiness and shagginess and suggests at times that it might just be a visualization of the epic tome in question.

And I am all for Hartley bringing back his creations in drastically altered circumstances, as well as a completely different genre, and seeing where there lives go from there. I even forgive him for providing a concrete answer to the uncertainty of Henry Fool’s ending that I love so much. What ultimately leaves Fay Grim unsatisfying is how, in the final analysis, Henry and Fay and Simon are right back where they started, with a pleasantly ambiguous ending, one that might lead someday perhaps to a third installment (Simon Grim?), but one that also results from the complete nullification of everything that has come before. It’s a cliffhanger ending in a way, and one can easily imagine Hartley proceeding with a musical next time around (or a horror film, or a Western...) to further the exploits of Henry, Fay, and Simon. They belong to the world at large now and that should be a victory. Right? Funny thing is, I think I liked them better when they just belonged to the neighborhood crack head.

Next time: a pair of Chapter Twos from August ’96: The long time coming big-budget sequel to a 1981 cult classic, and a quickly churned-out follow up to a surprise comedy hit from the previous year.

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