完美的杀手

　　After losing his wife and three kids, all Kyle wants is to mourn in peace. Unfortunately, his family insists on helping him

　　无亲无故的扎克（扎克·高察根 Zack Gottsagen 饰）是一名唐氏综合症患者，政府不得不将他安置到了一家养老院中，在这里，善良的扎克非常讨人喜欢，与此同时，他亦和在这里工作的名叫爱丽诺（达科塔·约翰逊 Dakota Johnson 饰）的护工之间结下了深厚的友谊。
　　扎克是一个摔角迷，每天，他都要看一段摔跤比赛的录像，这段录像是由一个化名“咸水乡巴人”的人录制的。扎克的人生理想就是能够前往录像中所记录的摔跤学校。在室友卡尔（布鲁斯·邓恩 Bruce Dern 饰）的建议下，扎克开始尝试“越狱”，并且最终成功，就这样，他踏上了圆梦之旅。

　　两名少年在高中组了一个金属乐队，然而学校里只有他们俩喜欢金属乐。他们找不到贝斯手，只得找来一名拉大提琴的女生做队友。三人必须齐心协力，才能在“乐队大战”中杀出重围。

　　帕特森一家住在动物园旁边，小帕特森跟幼儿园的小长颈鹿拉夫是最好的朋友，他们一同出生、一同长大、一起分享秘密。这天，帕特森和拉夫一起过完了4岁生日，帕特森即将迎来人生中很重要的一个转折：开始全新的幼儿园生活。帕特森非常兴奋，他以为会和自己的好朋友拉夫一起上幼儿园，然而幼儿园并不接受小长颈鹿。为了安慰无法一起上学的孤单好朋友，帕特森每天都要想尽办法，最后，帕特森想出了一个大胆计划，他要把拉夫偷偷带到学校去。
　　一场精心策划的“长颈鹿上学计”即将上演，在动物园小动物和幼儿园小朋友的帮助下，帕特森终于实现了和长颈鹿拉夫一起上学的心愿，拉夫也成为了幼儿园里最让人惊喜的临时学生。

　　Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley's early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch. Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career.
　　Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality (though using sex for several years); obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively – and simultaneously – complex and simple. Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich (e.g., her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot – culminating her doing nude (but unseen) work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc.)
　　As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance. A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life. Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone ("I'm a mechanic"), yet the symbolism is rich: he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy (is, in fact a virgin), and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well. The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense. Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable. What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is. A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played.
　　The scene between Josh and Jane (a wonderful, young Edie Falco . . . "You need a woman not a girl") is hilarious . . . real. But Hartley can't leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue over-and-over becomes frustratingly "arty" and annoying . . . until again it becomes hilarious. What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film (like kids in a perpetual "am not"/"are too" argument).
　　Hartley's weaves all of a small neighborhood's idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the "unbelievable truth" of the title is, yet no two people can agree (including our hero) on what exactly that truth is. A wonderful little movie with some big ideas.