异世浮生

　　一位渴望调查的大学教授被一些老朋友邀请去调查他们古董书店的一系列闹鬼事件。

　　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.

　　岸田智也（市原隼人）和佐藤葵（上野树里）在大学结识。二人非常合拍，葵还常常给智也出谋划策如何追女生。葵是独立电影制作小组的成员，她要在毕业前导演一部叫《THE END OF THE WORLD》的电影，于是决定选用智也当男主角。无奈毕业后，路开始分叉。葵引荐智也去了一间影视社工作，重遇那晚葵想说出对智也的情愫，然而终究没有开口。
　　葵不久飞往美国留学。正巧智也抬头，看到天空挂着彩虹。他兴奋地拍下，发送给相隔重洋的葵，但是却得到了葵飞机失事罹难的噩耗。亲人同学都悲伤不已，用她生前的电影去悼念逝者，在智也的心目中，葵也始终朦胧的牵动着他内心的爱。

　　北海道的小鎮東川町，來自越南的女孩小荷在這裡，開始了他的千里尋父之旅。身為攝影師的爸爸，遠離家鄉來到日本打拼直到在此長眠。而捕捉小鎮風光的相片，是爸爸留給小荷唯一的情感寄託。憑藉著對他的思念，小荷鼓起勇氣拜託父親的忘年之交阿輝，帶著她重新體會小鎮的一切，她想知道爸爸眼中的景色是什麼樣的。

　　一名徒步旅行者脱离团队去寻找好友，结果陷入求生之战，必须独自走出危险重重的山区。

　　哈里·考尔（吉恩·哈克曼 Gene Hackman 饰）在旧金山开了一家侦探公司，他最近的一单生意是去窃听一对男女的对话。他精心地在一个广场附近布下层层的窃听装置，来捕捉这对男女所说的每一句话。窃听进行得很顺利，声音很清晰，但他不理解他们所说的话到底什么意思。 他带着录音文件去雇佣他的公司准备拿他的报酬，却被告知老板不在，便决定暂时不交出录音文件，并退回报酬。他只能小心翼翼地保管着他的录音文件，即使在聚会的时候仍旧提心吊胆，生怕录音文件被人偷走。千防万防，录音文件还是丢失了。心急如焚的哈里只能按照他窃听到的录音内容，于某日来到那对男女口中提到的酒店，却不想他正陷入一场巨大的阴谋中……