Henry Fool

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Henry Fool
Promotional one-sheet
Directed by	Hal Hartley
Produced by	Hal Hartley
Written by	Hal Hartley
Starring	Thomas Jay Ryan James Urbaniak Parker Posey Liam Aiken
Music by	Hal Hartley
Cinematography	Michael Spiller
Editing by	Steve Hamilton
Distributed by	Sony Pictures Classics
Release date(s)	September 7, 1997 (Toronto Film Festival) June 19, 1998 (wide)
Running time	137 min.
Country
Language	English
Followed by	Fay Grim (2006)
IMDb profile

Henry Fool (1997) is a seriocomic film directed, written, and produced by Hal Hartley, featuring Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak, and Parker Posey. As in The Unbelievable Truth, an earlier Hartley film, expectation and reality again conflict.

Henry is supposed to be a literary genius, with a multi-volume work of art he carries around with him and an always ready quip about the artist's place in the world. His problem is, his work is garbage, but he inspires garbageman Simon Grim, who is regularly beaten and ridiculed in his neighborhood, to write his own extended poem that turns out to be a work of literary genius.

The story of Henry Fool occurs in the New York City borough of Queens. The neighbors regard Simon's poem differently: to some, it's pornography; to others, poetry. Ultimately, Simon lives the life Henry wanted to live and Henry becomes a garbageman, but they are both given a unique opportunity to trade places. The MPAA rated Henry Fool Restricted, for its adult content of sexuality, violence, and language.

The film won the best screenplay award at Cannes Film Festival, where it was also nominated for the Golden Palm. A sequel, titled Fay Grim, was released in 2007.

1 Plot
2 Cast
3 Trivia
4 External links

[edit] Plot

Socially inept garbageman Simon Grim is befriended by Henry Fool, a witty rogue, but untalented novelist. Henry opens the world of literature to Simon, who then writes "the great American poem.” As Simon begins his controversial ascent to the dizzying heights of Nobel Prize-winning poet, Henry sinks to a life of drinking in low-life bars. The friends fall out and lose touch until Henry’s criminal past catches up with him and needs Simon’s help in fleeing the country.

[edit] Cast

Thomas Jay Ryan as Henry Fool
James Urbaniak as Simon Grim
Parker Posey as Fay Grim
Liam Aiken as Ned Grim
Maria Porter as Mary
James Saito as Mr. Deng
Kevin Corrigan as Warren

[edit] Trivia

A passage from this movie is featured at the beginning of the Rise Against song Reception Fades from their debut album The Unraveling released in 2001.