There's a rhythm to Hal Hartley's films, a staccato, rat-a-tat-tat delivery of both dialogue and story structure that is unquestionably an acquired taste.
Hartley's quirky early films — "The Unbelievable Truth," "Trust," "Simple Men" — were funny, witty and winning, but failed to transcend his steady cult audience. And his latest, "Amateur," will probably not win any converts.
On the other hand, the Hartley faithful will be happy to know that lack of mainstream success has not prompted him to go commercial. This, despite his adapting a conventional genre — the film noir thriller — to his own unique sensibilities.
Still, "Amateur" seems overly complicated and less consistently amusing than his other features, with too many pointless scenes that tend to drag.
A simple description is bound to make this odd New York story seem quite salacious, but in Hartley's hands it is not: A former nun named Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert), whose current occupations include being a phone sex operator and a writer of stories for pornographic magazines, meets up with an amnesiac named Thomas (Martin Donovan). As Isabelle helps Thomas search for his past, they become mixed up with mob-sters.
Isabelle believes the Virgin Mary appeared to her in her youth — but that's not why she became a nun. The restrictions of her Catholic calling were more of an escape from her real calling. After 15 years in a convent, she realized her mistake and left to try and discover what it was the Virgin Mary really wanted her to do.
Thomas seems like a nice enough guy, but as they meet up with people from his past — in particular his wife, international porn star Sofia (Elina Lowensohn, who also plays the title character in the current "Nadja") — they discover that he was apparently an abusive pornographer who may have committed murder. And his amnesia is the result of being pushed out a window by Sofia.
Soon they are being pursued by a pair of erudite hit men — one is a former accountant and the other studied economics. And eventually Isabelle and Thomas team up with the ever-suspicious Sofia to hide out in Isabelle's old convent.
Put all of these ingredients together and you have the makings of another absurd Hartley movie stew . . . but this one tends to fizzle instead of sizzle.
Hartley's characters are always conflicted, which is best demonstrated in the film's funniest deadpan dialogue exchange. Isabelle tells Thomas that she believes she is a nymphomaniac. But, she confesses, she's never had sex. When Thomas balks at this contradiction, Isabelle coolly explains, "I'm choosy."
While he is not exactly constricted by the boundaries of the film noir genre, Hartley does seem unable to satisfactorily combine the thick story elements with his own peculiar style. Especially as the film progresses, becoming darker and darker, though the overall lightness in tone does not change with it.
In the end, the lightness gives way to tragedy as Hartley's characters discover that redemption does not come easy. Yet, that redemption seems wildly out of sync with the rest of Hartley's world.
No, redemption does not come easy. And "Amateur" never quite comes to terms with its sins.
The film is rated R for violence, sex, profanity and vulgarity.