Amateur (film)
Encyclopedia
Amateur is a 1994 film written and directed by Hal Hartley
starring Isabelle Huppert
, Martin Donovan
and Elina Löwensohn
.
and dialogue-driven style.
The soundtrack also included original music by "Ned Rifle" (a pseudonym used by Hal Hartley
) and Jeff Taylor
. It was released by Matador Records
.
Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley is an American film director, screenwriter, producer composer, who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and 1990s...
starring Isabelle Huppert
Isabelle Huppert
Isabelle Anne Madeleine Huppert is a French actress who has appeared in over 90 film and television productions since 1971. She has had 14 films in official competition at the Cannes Film Festival, and won the Best Actress Award twice, for Violette Nozière and La pianiste . She is also the most...
, Martin Donovan
Martin Donovan
Martin Donovan is an American stage and film actor. He has had a long collaboration with the director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, including Trust , Surviving Desire , Simple Men , Flirt , Amateur , and The Book of Life...
and Elina Löwensohn
Elina Löwensohn
Elina Löwensohn is a Romanian-born American actress.-Biography:Löwensohn was born in Bucharest, Romania. After the death of her father, a survivor of Nazi concentration camps, her mother emigrated to the United States with her, where her mother went on a hunger strike in order to get a visa for...
.
Title
The title is also an acronym, encompassing elements of the film- AccountancyAccountancyAccountancy is the process of communicating financial information about a business entity to users such as shareholders and managers. The communication is generally in the form of financial statements that show in money terms the economic resources under the control of management; the art lies in...
- MurderMurderMurder is the unlawful killing, with malice aforethought, of another human being, and generally this state of mind distinguishes murder from other forms of unlawful homicide...
- AmnesiaAmnesiaAmnesia is a condition in which one's memory is lost. The causes of amnesia have traditionally been divided into categories. Memory appears to be stored in several parts of the limbic system of the brain, and any condition that interferes with the function of this system can cause amnesia...
- TortureTortureTorture is the act of inflicting severe pain as a means of punishment, revenge, forcing information or a confession, or simply as an act of cruelty. Throughout history, torture has often been used as a method of political re-education, interrogation, punishment, and coercion...
- EcstasyEcstasy (emotion)Ecstasy is a subjective experience of total involvement of the subject, with an object of his or her awareness. Because total involvement with an object of our interest is not our ordinary experience since we are ordinarily aware also of other objects, the ecstasy is an example of altered state of...
- UnderstandingUnderstandingUnderstanding is a psychological process related to an abstract or physical object, such as a person, situation, or message whereby one is able to think about it and use concepts to deal adequately with that object....
- Redemption
Plot
Donovan plays Thomas, an amnesiac trying to put his life back together, who meets an ex-nun (Huppert) writing pornographic stories. The scenes of overt violence were new territory for Hartley, but the film was still in his usual deadpanDeadpan
Deadpan is a form of comic delivery in which humor is presented without a change in emotion or body language, usually speaking in a casual, monotone, solemn, blunt, disgusted or matter-of-fact voice and expressing an unflappably calm, archly insincere or artificially grave demeanor...
and dialogue-driven style.
Soundtrack
The soundtrack features excerpts from various alternative artists:- Mind Full of Worry -- The AquanettasThe AquanettasThe Aquanettas were an all-girl band from New York City that one New York Times writer said played "classic, basic rock-and-roll: just rugged guitar riffs and lyrics about the more bothersome aspects of romance". Their music was influenced by classic rock such as Led Zeppelin and punk bands such as...
- Only Shallow -- My Bloody Valentine
- Water -- PJ HarveyPJ HarveyPolly Jean Harvey is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, and most recently, the autoharp.Harvey began her career in...
- Japanese to English -- Red House PaintersRed House PaintersRed House Painters were an alternative rock group formed in 1989 in San Francisco, California by singer-songwriter Mark Kozelek.-History:While in Atlanta, Georgia, Ohio-born Kozelek became friends with Anthony Koutsos, a drummer. He then moved to San Francisco, California, adding guitarist Gorden...
- Shaker -- Yo La TengoYo La TengoYo La Tengo, sometimes abbreviated as YLT, is an American alternative rock band formed in Hoboken, New Jersey in 1984. Since 1992, the lineup has consisted of Ira Kaplan , Georgia Hubley , and James McNew .Despite achieving limited mainstream success, Yo La Tengo has been called "the quintessential...
- Tom Boy -- Bettie ServeertBettie ServeertBettie Serveert are a Dutch indie-rock band. Their name translates to "Bettie Serves", or "Service to Bettie", which is the title of a book written by Dutch tennis player Betty Stöve, who made it to the Wimbledon ladies singles final in 1977.-Genesis:...
- Girls! Girls! Girls -- Liz PhairLiz PhairPhair's entry into the music industry began when she met guitarist Chris Brokaw, a member of the band Come. Brokaw and Phair moved to San Francisco together, and Phair tried to become an artist there...
- Then Comes Dudley -- The Jesus LizardThe Jesus LizardThe Jesus Lizard was an American alternative rock and noise rock band formed in 1987 in Austin, Texas. They were "a leading noise rock band in the American independent underground…[who] turned out a series of independent records filled with scathing, disembowelling, guitar-driven pseudo-industrial...
- Here -- PavementPavement (band)Pavement is an American alternative rock band that formed in Stockton, California in 1989. In their career, they achieved a significant cult following, and they were called the best band of the 1990s by prominent music critics Robert Christgau and Stephen Thomas Erlewine...
The soundtrack also included original music by "Ned Rifle" (a pseudonym used by Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley is an American film director, screenwriter, producer composer, who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and 1990s...
) and Jeff Taylor
Jeff Taylor
Jeff Taylor is a founder of the online jobs site Monster.com. He is a graduate of the program at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In August 2005, he left Monster to found a new venture called Eons.com, a social networking website for people over age 50. In 2008, Taylor started...
. It was released by Matador Records
Matador Records
Matador Records is an independent record label, with a roster of indie rock artists and bands.-History:Matador was started by Chris Lombardi in 1989 in his New York City apartment. The following year, Lombardi was joined by former Homestead Records manager Gerard Cosloy, and the two of them have...
.