Flirt | |
---|---|
Directed by | Hal Hartley |
Screenplay by | Hal Hartley [1] |
Produced by | Ted Hope [1] |
Starring |
|
Cinematography | Michael Spiller [1] |
Edited by |
|
Music by |
|
Production company | Good Machine |
Distributed by | Pandora Film (Germany) [1] |
Release date |
|
Running time | 83 minutes [1] |
Countries |
|
Flirt is a 1995 drama film written and directed by Hal Hartley [2] and produced by Good Machine. [3]
The story takes place in New York, Berlin and Tokyo, with each segment using the same dialogue.
In New York, Bill struggles to decide whether he has a future with Emily, while attempting to restrain Walter, the angry husband of a woman he thinks he might be in love with.
In Berlin, Dwight has a similar experience with his lover, while the events that befall Miho in Tokyo take a more dramatic turn.
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 73% based on 11 reviews. [4] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". [5]
Film critic James Berardinelli rated the film 2.5 out of 4 stars. [6] Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave it 2 out of 4 stars, stating that "It is more amusing to talk about than to experience." While he expresses his appreciation of the film's experimentation and its illustration of the mantra that a film is about how it's presented rather than its subject matter, he opines that it is more of an intellectual exercise than an enjoyable watch. [7] Writing for SPIN, Michael Atkinson said that "by the third replay of the same dialogue, you're significantly less enchanted with the material than Hartley apparently is with himself." [8]
Alison Macor of The Austin Chronicle gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, describing it as an "intriguing ride" and as Hartley's most ambitious film. [9] Film critic Emanuel Levy described it as "a semi-academic treatise about the limits of narrativity," and opined that it "offers some minor rewards." [10]