Amateur (1994)
Directed by Hal Hartley
Genres - Comedy, Drama, Thriller |
Sub-Genres - Comedy Thriller |
Release Date - May 19, 1996 (USA - Limited) |
Run Time - 105 min. |
Countries - France, United Kingdom, United States |
MPAA Rating - R
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Synopsis by Jason Ankeny
Hal Hartley's fourth feature is a significant break from the quirky romantic comedy territory of his previous work -- though all of the deadpan idiosyncracies which make him such a singular filmmaker remain intact, here he tries his hand at the thriller genre, a move yielding typically unconventional and innovative results. Amateur stars Hartley mainstay Martin Donovan as Thomas, an amnesiac who, in the first scenes, wakes up in an alley, badly injured; he stumbles to a nearby coffeeshop where he meets Isabelle (Isabelle Huppert), a former nun and would-be nymphomaniac who now makes her living writing pornographic fiction. She takes him back to her apartment, where in time his past slowly begins to emerge -- a sharp contrast to the sweet, even naive soul that Huppert has befriended, it appears that the old Thomas was in fact a vicious pornographer whose attempted murder was at the hands of his wife, adult film star wife Sofia (Elina Lowensohn). Thomas is also the target of a nefarious European arms merchant whose hired guns are hot on his trail.
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Keywords
murder, nun, nymphomaniac, on-the-run, pornography, amnesia, wife, redemption