Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.5

Flirt Blu-ray Movie Review

The three faces of Hal.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 10, 2013

Hal Hartley is a bit of an imp at times, and one has to wonder if perhaps he watched Akira Kurosawa’s iconic Rashômon and decided to put his own decidedly unique spin on the idea of the film, if not its story. The Kurosawa masterpiece of course is about an event told from a number of different perspectives, with the viewer left to wonder which (if any) of them is “the truth”. In Flirt, Hartley revisits the same basic story three times, though he does so through the prism of three different casts and three different locales and (ostensibly, anyway, given the textual identifiers) three different years. It’s hard not to think of this gambit as little more than a gimmick, for Hartley simply has different actors spouting much the same lines in all three outings, although the context and, in some cases anyway, a few plot points differ, but there is perhaps method to Hartley’s overly self-conscious madness. Hartley has always been a rather astute observer of the vagaries of love, and it just might be that this modern day auteur is doing nothing more pretentious in Flirt than positing the universality of those very vagaries. Like a lot of Hartley films, this won’t be a film that delights everyone’s tastes, but for those who are attracted to a bit of an unusual premise that has some weirdly whimsical elements interwoven with its basic story of a flirt trying to decide who he or she will ultimately end up, Flirt has some passing pleasures.

The film starts with a shot of Emily (Parker Posey) residing on a bed and complaining about how horrible she feels about not being able to choose between two unseen lovers—one of whom is evidently in the room with her. Does that mean Emily is the titular flirt of this “episode” of the film? Well, she may in fact be a flirt, but she is not the flirt, for that turns out to be the initially unseen boyfriend, Bill (Bill Sage). Emily is about to leave for London and she wants Bill’s assurance that the two have a future together so that she can decide how to deal with the other boyfriend who is waiting to greet her across the pond. Bill unfortunately is either unable or unwilling to instantly give Emily the reassurance she so desperately needs, and it turns out he is ensconced in a variety of other relationships which he goes about exploring in the couple of hours he has before he has to drive Emily to the airport. In a variety of scenes which will continue to play out more or less the exact same way in the other two segments of Flirt, Bill tries to decide if he should pursue a relationship with a married woman who has just broken up with her husband. Bill’s unexpected interchanges with that husband (Martin Donovan) have some equally unexpected repercussions which leave Bill rather badly wounded, something that causes him to miss his appointment with Emily to get her to the airport. What’s a conflicted lover to do?

And so ends the basic one act of the film, which is then repeated twice more, with minor variations. The first repeat finds a homosexual rather than a heterosexual couple at the center of its love quadrangle (if four is even enough angles), and an interracial one at that. This particular segment plays out in Berlin and has some allusions to the once walled city’s provocative counter culture. For example in the scene in this segment where the conflicted hero (Dwight Ewell) attempts to use a pay phone (remember those?) only to have it commandeered by what appears to be a “working girl”, when she finally gives up the phone, she departs the scene with a rather vigorous grope of the guy’s crotch, something that does not happen in either of the other similar scenes in the other segments.

The third sequence takes place in Japan and features a heroine (Miho Nikaido, Mrs. Hal Hartley) rather than a hero, and which also introduces some more odd elements, including a kind of quasi-kabuki opening scene that has little relationship to the other two segments. All three segments have slightly different endings, which won’t be spoiled here. One of them appears to end badly, though in typical Hartley fashion (and come to think of it in typical Rashomon fashion as well), we’re left wondering, while the other two at least hint that rapprochements are at least available if not necessarily preferable.

Flirt has a really interesting cast scattered throughout its three segments, though American audiences will probably get the biggest kick out of the New York set sequence which features bits by a very young Michael Imperioli, Lost's Harold Perrineau and Fame's Erica Gimpel.

The film is also full of weird little Hartley-esque bits. In the opening sequence, for example, when disaster strikes between Bill and the jilted husband, suddenly a woman at the bar where the two have had their interchange stands up and starts doing a bizarre little dance, only to slip and fall on the floor. What is that all about? But it’s part and parcel of Hartley’s skewed sense of humor, which tends to find the “funny” in life’s little foibles. The film also starts with sounds of what may be Hartley himself calling off technical data in preparation for the film's first shot, giving a whole "meta" ambience to things right from the get go. Flirt may in fact be not much more than a cinematic batting of an eyelash or two at its veritable audience, but like a lot of come-ons, it’s just intriguing enough to merit further examination.

Flirt Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Flirt is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Olive Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 1.78:1. This 1995 vintage film looks very good in high definition, though some may wish that colors were a bit more robustly saturated. The entire film is kind of pale looking, not necessarily due to inconsistent contrast, but seeming to be just a bit on the washed out side. Otherwise, though, things are sharp and well detailed here. Hartley tends to favor midrange shots throughout a lot of the film, but when he does deign to move in for a close-up, fine object detail is very good. The film is rather short and fits more than comfortable on a BD-25, so there are no compression artifacts to report.

Flirt Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Flirt features a lossless DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 mix, but to my ears this is simply a mono mix pumping out over two channels, a conclusion confirmed (if not absolutely given the inaccuracy of much information on the internet) by the IMDb, which lists the film's original soundtrack as mono. All of this said, fidelity is just fine for a piece which is made up almost entirely of dialogue between two characters at a time. Occasional depth is achieved in some of the cityscapes featured, most notably in the New York segment. Dynamic range is fairly muted, save for one brief burst of sound that is in all three segments.

Flirt Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• NYC 3/94 (480i; 10:02) is a rather odd little short by Hartley which looks like it was done on videotape.


• Flirt Trailer (1080p; 1:43)

Flirt Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Hal Hartley remains an acquired taste and those who tend to love his work will no doubt adore Flirt, while those who find Hartley too self-conscious and precious will probably have a similar reaction to this piece. Even diehard fans may wonder if there's much "there" there aside from the admittedly fun gimmick of seeing the same story play out three times in slightly different ways with different characters. Flirt does show one thing that Hartley tends to do very well, namely explore the silliness of relationships. The film is rarely laugh out loud funny, but it's generally amiably comic and is bolstered by some good performances. This Blu-ray looks and sounds fine and actually has a couple of supplements unlike most Olive releases. Recommended.