Ned Rifle

“Decisive, committed, admittedly obscure work, indifferent to mainstream approval and unafraid of confrontation with moral and aesthetic absolutes. This, more than you might imagine, is what keeps people from jumping out windows and under trains.” Susan (Aubrey Plaza) in Ned Rifle

Hal Hartley’s 2014 feature is another film about a son (Liam Aiken) tracking down his errant father, in this case the notorious Henry Fool (Thomas Jay Ryan). Brought up in a Christian household under witness protection, Ned means to avenge his mom (Parker Posey), whose serving time for domestic terrorism. Along the way he meets up with his uncle Simon (James Urbaniak), a poet now trying his hand at standup, and Susan (Aubrey Plaza), a grad student who also wants to meet Henry…

Performed in Hartley’s signature declaratory manner, the movie puts an inquisitive serio-comic spin on a classic mystery tale. As usual, Hartley also composed the score.

For all the evident despair, Hartley can’t repress his love of cinema; the comic dialogue sings and many of the images have a fragile beauty.

Ben Sachs, Chicago Reader

Like the best of Hartley’s work (Henry Fool, Trust, Simple Men), Ned Rifle leaves behind little bits of wisdom.

Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News

As philosophical, political and pornographic as Henry describes his own work to be – an expansive comic book ​’novel of ideas’ all at once provocative and funny.

Anton Bitel, Little White Lies