neumu [ cinematronic ]




	No Such Thing
	Hal Hartley Robert Sean Burke, Sarah Polley, Helen Mirren, Julie Christie 2001		With thoughtful indie-film fave Hal Hartley ("Henry Fool") directing, there was promise here. But the result feels incomplete, as if a reel's worth of footage was cut out of various parts of the film. It's a tall tale about an immortal, horned man-monster (Robert Sean Burke) who lives in drunken self-loathing and seclusion on an Icelandic island until he slaughters an American TV crew that has interrupted his solitude. Beatrice (Sarah Polley of "The Sweet Hereafter"), an idealistic gofer at the network, travels to the island to see if the monster exists and to learn what happened to her boyfriend, a cameraman in the earlier expedition. Her ratings-hungry boss (Helen Mirren of "Gosford Park") has other ideas, like bringing the monster to New York where he can reveal himself to the world on television. Because the monster longs for death's sweet relief, he accompanies Beatrice back to civilization where science may be able to end his life. Oddly, no one counts on the corrosive effects of the media glare.