Fay Grim

Aroview: This unlikely sequel to HENRY FOOL finds Parker Posey deep undercover for the CIA, dispatched to France to recover her ex-husband’s (ruffian poet Fool) coveted memoirs, said to contain coded secrets on the United States.

Shot entirely in off-kilter ‘Dutch Angle’, Hal Hartley’s follow-up is an otherwise inconspicuous affair, shot with unusual, resourceful style, and scattered with quirks amidst apparent spy thriller pretensions. Not quite the commercial prospect it suggests it could be, fans of the director will still dig the idiosyncratic humour and reunion of characters, with suspense and action kept on an appropriate down-low. While not essential, viewing HENRY FOOL beforehand is recommended, particularly as an introduction to Hartley’s deadpan tone, as well as an example of his best film.