妈咪侠

　　曼谷，是一个大都市，也是一座不夜城。城市的中心泰尼亚路是一片红灯区，这里的路边随处可见一些日本男人。露克是红灯区的头牌之一。她一个人独自住在曼谷的豪华公寓中，用在这边挣到的钱，负担起她远在老挝边境的原生大家庭。一天，露克偶遇了她在五年前爱上过的男人，她曾经的一个日本客人，小泽。小泽是一名从日本自卫队退伍的士兵，他生活在贫民区，勉强维持生计。当小泽要去老挝时，露克陪着他一起回了家乡，并将小泽介绍给了自己的家人和儿时的朋友。在小村庄度过的这段时间里，小泽开始对曼谷的都市生活感到厌倦，不禁向往起了能够在这里过着平淡的日子，然而这却也揭开了殖民时代所留下的疮疤。

　　本该温馨美好的情人节，四名漂亮的女人却收到了令人不寒而栗的古怪卡片，接着古怪恐怖的事情开始在她们中间发生。原来，这一切起因于她们上学时曾无情的嘲笑过个一个性格内向、古怪的可怜男生。现金一转数年过去了，当年高中舞会上的“丑小鸭”已经变成了“天鹅”，决定回来在情人节当日对她们实施最无情的报复。到底谁才是元凶，这四个漂亮女人能否逃过此劫？围绕在她们周围的男士人人皆有可疑……

　　Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley's early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch. Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career.
　　Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality (though using sex for several years); obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively – and simultaneously – complex and simple. Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich (e.g., her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot – culminating her doing nude (but unseen) work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc.)
　　As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance. A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life. Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone ("I'm a mechanic"), yet the symbolism is rich: he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy (is, in fact a virgin), and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well. The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense. Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable. What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is. A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played.
　　The scene between Josh and Jane (a wonderful, young Edie Falco . . . "You need a woman not a girl") is hilarious . . . real. But Hartley can't leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue over-and-over becomes frustratingly "arty" and annoying . . . until again it becomes hilarious. What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film (like kids in a perpetual "am not"/"are too" argument).
　　Hartley's weaves all of a small neighborhood's idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the "unbelievable truth" of the title is, yet no two people can agree (including our hero) on what exactly that truth is. A wonderful little movie with some big ideas.