Watch Trust For Free

the audience applauded

Such a frustrating disappointment

Sorry, this movie sucks

How sad is this?

My favorite movie of all time... (under $700,000)Not sure why.... Low Production Value. Most of the acting is substandard. The Locations are mundane.But... The writing is profound and relatable. The characters are iconic, stereotypical yet Identifiable. Very Quotable one liners.Top Notch interpersonal relationships. (A True Cult Classic)

Probably one of the least seen films that I have discussed over the last 6 months, this was a movie that I remember vividly as a teen, though in more glowing terms than I now see it.Trust was made by indie filmmaker Hal Hartley, who was renowned for his dialogue heavy films exploring regular people going about their lives. Now that I revisit this some 20 years later I think that perhaps his work also merits the dreaded "quirky" tag.The film starts with a domestic between a young girl and her Dad, the scene culminates with the Dad keeling over dead of a heart attack.The girl is one of two leads, her name is Maria, she is apparently high school age, is pregnant to the quarterback who she now wants nothing to do with, and not wanted at home as her mother blames her for the death of her dad. She also looks a lot like a duck.The other lead is Matthew, played by Martin Donovan in deadpan mode. He is a marginally psychotic TV repairman who is bullied by his single Dad and carries a grenade around with him.Real people dealing with real issues.There is much more of a plot than Maria and Matthew meet, share their problems and decide to make a go of things together, the action occurs as they progress through and come into contact with the various other characters in the film.No-one seems to get along, Maria's mum hates her, and later Matthew. Matthew's dad hates him, and everyone else it seems. Matthew is an angry loner who hates everyone and everyone hates, which leaves Maria and her unborn child as the victim of a tug of war.Everyone in the film seems to be 5% off-normal, not quite enough to be a caricature, but more than enough that they could all aptly be described as weird (at least) by normal people.In this vein Hartley is like Kevin Smith (really), he puts people that you might almost convince yourself that could exist, and in fact you might know someone who really reminds of one of them, only he fills every role with these one-in-a-million characters, so you have a town full of people that would ordinarily be the nut-job.The dialogue is scripted down to the nth degree, which unfortunately leads to conversations that alternate between snappy and robotic, at times in the same scene. At times it is almost like the characters are starting their response before the other sentence is finished.This film is most notable to me as being the first film I can remember seeing that had a character say the C-word, and a female character at that. If this sounds juvenile it is because when I watched the film I was, so it was a genuine surprise to me to see such a taboo word bandied about in an art house film.Even now that I watch this movie and see that I perhaps was looking at my memories with rose coloured glasses, there are moments that are both calculated that still have an impact, you know that the director is trying to scream "this is important" and want to ignore it but it still works.Like a good sad ballad, you know it is simply trying to manipulate your emotions, but turn off the lights and crank it loud and you can't help but caught up in it. Only Trust is a 90+ minute movie, it's hard to be "swept along" for that long when everything is so mechanical.Final Rating - 6.5 - 10. As I said at times it works, there are just too many dead spots in between those times.If you liked this review (or even if you didn't) check out oneguyrambling.com

Trust opens with a stereotypical ignorant high school girl named Maria making petty demands of her parents and deliberately scandalizing them by explaining her future plans which involve marrying her jock boyfriend. She explains that he'll have to because she's pregnant and then leaves before she has a chance to realize that the news has caused her father to have a heart attack.Since she does leave we have a while longer to become familiar with her before her perfect world begins to crumble around her. She carelessly goes clothes shopping during the day and only stops by the school she is supposed to be attending to talk to her boyfriend. He's more worried about the upcoming football game than anything she can tell him; news of her pregnancy only angers him and he makes it clear that he won't take care of the child. Things get progressively worse for her as she's kicked out of her house, has a conversation with an insane woman, and is nearly raped before retreating to a quiet street where she attempts to drown her sorrow in a six pack.At this point Maria happens to meet Matthew, a gifted machinist who is so unsatisfied with his foolish employers and demanding father that he has developed a nasty violent streak. This initially seems to be an excellent match as the newly disillusioned Maria has become just as averse to nonsense as Matthew. The two slowly get to know each other and each one realizes that the other satisfies an innate desire that has previously gone unmet. Unfortunately circumstances keep arising to drive them apart and Matthew puts his trust in the wrong people.Writer/director Hal Hartley infuses this film with a uniquely cynical wit that meshes perfectly with the material to create a work that is at once funny and emotionally engaging. The film also is thematically satisfying in that it explores the attitudes of the characters and how those attitudes have been developed. Specifically, we see how the trust characters place in other people, particularly family members, is abused and subverted and how this has shaped various characters over time. Trust is one of those rare films that not only encapsulates a certain time and place but also presents some genuine truths about human behavior and offers a consistently engaging viewing experience.

It was toss-up between what film will represent the early nineties style of independent films that I like – Trust could easily be replaced with Chasing Amy, Swingers, Metropolitan, Dazed and Confused or even Scream but I chose this Hal Hartley flick because I think it is the most profound in exploring the relationships we have with our partners, our family and the people in our immediate environment as well as having the most charming minimalist style to express those thoughts. A lot of the film is pretty much shot with talking heads but the execution works well because of the deadpan while nuance performances of a cast who remain very appealing and likable regardless of the dark twists and turns the story takes. Trust is probably the only Hal Hartley film you can guarantee finding at JB Hifi in Australia at any time and I definitely recommend it as an impulse purchase.