Flirt (1995 film)

Flirt
Directed by	Hal Hartley
Screenplay by	Hal Hartley
Produced by	Ted Hope
Starring	Bill Sage Dwight Ewell Miho Nikaido
Cinematography	Michael Spiller
Edited by	Hal Hartley Steve Hamilton
Music by	Hal Hartley Jeffrey Taylor
Production company	Good Machine
Distributed by	Pandora Film (Germany)
Release date	1995 (1995)
Running time	83 minutes
Countries	United States Germany Japan

Flirt is a 1995 drama film written and directed by Hal Hartley and produced by Good Machine.

Introduction

The story takes place in New York, Berlin and Tokyo, with each segment using the same dialogue.

In New York, Bill struggles to decide whether he has a future with Emily, while attempting to restrain Walter, the angry husband of a woman he thinks he might be in love with.

In Berlin, Dwight has a similar experience with his lover, while the events that befall Miho in Tokyo take a more dramatic turn.

Cast

• Bill Sage as Bill
• Dwight Ewell as Dwight
• Miho Nikaido as Miho
• Parker Posey as Emily
• Martin Donovan as Walter
• Hal Hartley as Hal
• Hannah Sullivan as Margaret
• Geno Lechner as Greta
• Toshizo Fujiwara as Ozu
• Chikako Hara as Yuki
• Peter Fitz as The Doctor
• Michael Imperioli as Concerned Bar Patron
• Harold Perrineau, Jr. as Man in restroom #1
• Robert John Burke as Man in restroom #2
• Liana Pai as Woman at Phone Booth
• Maria Schrader as Girl In Phone Booth
• José Zúñiga as Driver

Reception

Critical reception

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 73% based on 11 reviews. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 46 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Film critic James Berardinelli rated the film 2.5 out of 4 stars. Roger Ebert of Chicago Sun-Times gave it 2 out of 4 stars, stating that "It is more amusing to talk about than to experience." While he expresses his appreciation of the film's experimentation and its illustration of the mantra that a film is about how it's presented rather than its subject matter, he opines that it is more of an intellectual exercise than an enjoyable watch. Writing for SPIN, Michael Atkinson said that "by the third replay of the same dialogue, you're significantly less enchanted with the material than Hartley apparently is with himself."

Alison Macor of The Austin Chronicle gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, describing it as an "intriguing ride" and as Hartley's most ambitious film. Film critic Emanuel Levy described it as "a semi-academic treatise about the limits of narrativity," and opined that it "offers some minor rewards."

External links

• Flirt at IMDb
• Flirt at Rotten Tomatoes