Search - Henry Fool on DVD

MPAA Rating: R Content Advisory: Violence, Profanity, Sexual Situations Movie Release: 1997 DVD Release: 12/16/2003 Format: DVD - Enhanced Wide Screen Letterbox for 16x9 TV - Closed Captioned Audio Tracks: English SwapaDVD Credits: 1 Number of Discs: 1 Run Time: 2 hrs 18 mins Studio: Columbia TriStar Members Wishing: 3 Genres: Comedy Drama, Melodrama, Domestic Comedy

Simon Grim (James Urbaniak) is a garbageman, and his life is about as unpleasant and uneventful as you'd expect given his profession; he doesn't much care for his work, he's treated with violence or contempt by most of the people in his neighborhood, and he shares a house with Mary (Maria Porter), his cranky, pill-head mother, and Fay (Parker Posey), his morally suggestible sister. One day, Henry Fool (Thomas Jay Ryan) appears; he claims to be a writer in the midst of a major project, entitled "Confessions," and needs a place to stay. Henry ends up moving in with Simon and his family, where he wastes no time in bedding both Mary and Fay, and encourages Simon to write in a journal. Simon begins to write in long torrents of words that surprisingly fall together into iambic pentameter; Henry tells Simon that what he's writing is poetry, and he's truly gifted. Simon seems dubious at first, but when several of Simon's pieces are posted on the Internet, he developes a huge and rabid following and is acclaimed as one of the great authors of our time. Henry, however, isn't able to get anywhere with his own book or his own life; as Simon's star slowly rises, Henry's orbit slowly sinks past the horizon. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Thomas Jay Ryan - Henry Fool
James Urbaniak - Simon Grim
Parker Posey - Fay Grim
Maria Porter - Mary
James Saito - Mr. Deng
Kevin Corrigan - Warren
Liam Aiken - Ned
Veanne Cox - Laura
Jan Leslie Harding - Vicky

Idiosyncratic director Hal Hartley's 1998 effort Henry Fool features performances from well-respected independent actors Parker Posey, Kevin Corrigan, and James Urbaniak. After a five-year delay, the film comes to DVD with a widescreen transfer that preserves the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.78:1. The English soundtrack is rendered in Dolby Digital Stereo. There are no supplemental materials of any consequence, but this disc is worthwhile for any fan of films made outside the Hollywood mainstream. While Hartley fans may be disappointed at the lack of extras, they will have no complaint about the technical aspects of this disc. ~ Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide