In Hal Hartley's futuristic film, a being arrives from outer space and takes over the body of an alluring woman (Tatiana Abracos) to find a friend in grave danger. In the meantime, the planet is in disarray; the creation of the Human Value Reform Act has encouraged men and women to trade on their bodies of relevance. Citizens are now public offerings on the stock exchange; each time they have sex and remain unattached, their value increases. The law's author Jack Bell (Bill Sage), is overcome with remorse as he witnesses the havoc he's created and goes underground to fix what he has done.
(15 votes)
2.
Shot on video in color and black and white, indie-god Hal Hartley's The Girl from Monday imagines a not-too-distant future in which the Multi-Media Monopoly (Triple M) corporation rules over a real consumer culture. Individuals have bar codes implanted on their wrists and their stock fluctuates according to their sexual activity. Bucking the system are the Partisans, a rag-tag group of "counter-revolutionaries with no credit rating." Hartley veteran Bill Sage (The Unbelievable Truth, Trust, Flirt, Simple Men, No Such Thing) stars as Jack, a disillusioned Triple M advertising executive. Sabrina Lloyd (Sports Night) costars as Jack's rebellious co-worker, with Brazilian model Tatiana Abracos as the enigmatic eponymous character, an alien who takes ravishing human form when she falls to earth. The Sopranos' Edie Falco, who co-starred in Hartley's The Unbelieveable Truth and Trust, graciously appears as a judge. More interested in ideas than special effects, Hartley's characteristically deadpan "science fiction" is not likely to win him a wider audience beyond his core, cult following. Fans of Chris Marker's La Jetee may also find this film a stylistic kindred spirit with its haunting use of still images. --Donald Liebenson
(15 votes)
3.
Resembling the hectic stylization last seen in The Book of Life (1998), Hartley's newest digital feature invites us to consider a world where citizens are actually proud to be stock options whose market value goes up or down depending on their sexual activity. A world where having sex just because it feels good is against the law. A world where one’s credit rating determines everything.
A funny and thought-provoking farce told in the rhythms of a sci-fi thriller, The Girl From Monday stars Sabrina Lloyd from the new hit CBS show "Numb3rs," Bill Sage, Leo Fitzpatrick, and Tatiana Abracos.
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