Trust

One of the five best films ever made!
Hal Hartley's simple, brilliant masterpiece. Martin Donovan should have won an oscar for his performance as Matthew Slaughter. All the characters are written to perfection, and they complement each other perfectly. The film is as sad as it is hilarious (there are some 50 lines of dialogue that are worth quoting here). Matthew Slaughter's character is made all the more real by the ending. As an "empiricist" who doesn't believe in love, he can only understand what it is (love) once things turn in the wrong direction for him. The love between him and Maria Coughlin (Adrienne Shelly) is not one of those stuffy Hollywood romances, but a simple trust and understanding between two individuals (admiration, respect, trust equal love!). Further complicating matters between them are their downright sinister parents; Matthew's father beats him, while Maria's mother blames her for the death of her father. Simple, intricate, funny, sad, and filled with nuggets of...

Truly amazing, deserves better support from its Studio
This movie is considered the best Hal Hartley ever, even if some Hal Hartley aficionados may prefer Surviving Desire or Simple Men, But TRUST is the movie that grabs even non fans. As why it is not released in the US is hard to understand. I'm from the UK and Have to buy low quality region 1 DVDs as they are not released in the UK. this one is interesting as it is an Australian PAL import, so I get the better quality video. If you are a US Resident, do not worry, PAL video is better, each frame of film equals a frame of video, it runs at 25 frames per second and it has more pixels per frame, so you are watching a more film like experience. Regions on DVDs are just another bad idea from the Hollywood studios, but 90% of european DVD players are region free and if you look for your DVD model on the web, I am sure you will find a code to "region Free" it. as why the rights owner doesn't release all Hal Hartley movies in all countries, it is another story.

Black Humor, White Trash
If you like John Waters films (particularly "Female Trouble" and "Pink Flamingos") but were disappointed that they didn't quite clear the hurdle to being funny, then "Trust" is for you.

"Trust" is the follow-on to "The Unbelievable Truth," and features many of the same actors and themes. "The Unbelievable Truth," however, is a screwball romantic comedy, while "Trust" is flat-out black humor. If you're planning to watch both, watch "The Unbelievable Truth" first.

I spent the first half of "Trust" laughing, but wondering whether Hal Hartley intended it to be funny. By the end, it becomes clear that he did; this is one very funny film.

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