Surviving Desire (1993), Theory of Achievement (1991), Ambition (1991) DVD5, download for free

Apr25

Surviving Desire (1993), Theory of Achievement (1991), Ambition (1991) DVD5

by movieworld on April 25th, 2016 at 18:52

Posted In: .Other movies, Comedy, Drama, Romance

"Surviving Desire" - is one of the most charming pieces Hartley has made. This hour-long story follows Jude (Martin Donovan), a college teacher obsessed with a single paragraph from The Brothers Karamazov, who's fallen in love with Sofie (Mary Ward), one of his students who's writing a short story about him. As the romance plays itself out, philosophical conversations turn into metaphysical Abbott and Costello routines, Jude breaks into spontaneous dance, a rock band in the street serenades a woman in her apartment window--and gradually a rueful and whimsical sense of life and love rises out of Hartley's erratic rhythms. Hartley is an idiosyncratic filmmaker who's not to everyone's taste; this short film is probably an ideal introduction to his work.

DVD5 | NTSC 4:3 | 00:54:53 | 4.25 Gb + 3% rec
Language: English
Subtitles: none
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance, Short

Director: Hal Hartley
Cast: Martin Donovan, Matt Malloy, Rebecca Nelson
Country: USA

Surviving Desire is actually three short films, two of which - "Theory of Achievement" and "Ambition" - demonstrate writer-director Hal Hartley at his most quirky and abstract. They consist mostly of a series of dialogues, presented out of context, about things like Brooklyn real estate, nonlinear art, and contrasting male and female approaches to suicide. Fans of Hartley will enjoy them; newcomers will probably find them baffling.