Fay Grim

Indie king throughout the 90s, Hal Hartley brings his cool reserve to a post-9/11 world in FAY GRIM, a sequel to his outstanding film, “Henry Fool.” Hartley assembles the original cast: James Urbaniak as Simon Grim, Thomas Jay Ryan as Henry Fool, and Parker Posey as Fay Grim. This is a dry comedy (dry as in a good martini) that spins into an international spy spoof as Fay tries to find her self-exiled husband, Henry Fool. The plot is sheer lunacy, the dialogue is silly, and smartly so, and those tilted camera angles keep things off-kilter. The “story” is that CIA agent Fulbright (Jeff Goldblum) lures Fay to Paris to recover either Henry, or Henry's infamous “confessions” – sub-par prose that may be encrypted with a host of national security secrets. Turns out other world governments are after the “confessions,” and an atypical, extended chase ensues. –A.S.