安妮特

　　小强从小和父亲住在山上。有一天，外公请他下山，要他接受学校良好教育。一开始，小强适应不了新环境，吵着要回山上，根本不思读书上学。外公一气之下将他绑了起来。小强被迫无奈，只得开始学校生活。他首先去找曾在山上有过一面之交的雯雯，没有找到，却意外遇到了一群练武术的人。他们难刁小强，小强凭着在山上学到的功夫跟他们交手，不料败下阵来。小强并不气馁，跟他们刻苦练武，终于有了长进。同时，雯雯家境窘困，被讨债的高利货主逼得走投无路。小强知道后，向外公借钱，希望能资助雯雯。外公为此与小强打赌，只要小强学习上进，就借钱给他。小强信守诺言，刻苦学习。眼看就能赢得那笔钱，不料，债主绑架了小强和雯雯哥哥，要外公用钱去赎。外公只得筹钱前往。在交易中，小强突然出击，用学到的功夫与绑匪展开决斗。与此同时，那群练武的同学也及时赶到，降服了绑匪。爷爷被孩子们的仗义和勇敢所感动，帮助雯雯家摆脱困境并投资教育，在内地山区建立一座森林学校，让这些最棒的孩子们快乐地在一起

　　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.