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Henry Fool

“An honest man is always in trouble...”

1997 · 2 h 17 min
Directed by Hal Hartley
ComedyDrama

Cast

James Urbaniak Parker Posey

Credits

Produced by: Hal Hartley

Plot

Henry Fool, a drifter who claims to be writing a great confession, moves into the home of a shy, near-silent garbageman, Simon Grim. Henry inspires him to write, and Simon's poem becomes a sensation. Meanwhile Henry's life gradually unravels. Hal Hartley's 1997 film, a deadpan comedy about literature, fame and failure, won the prize for best screenplay at Cannes.

Sinekatalog’s take

Hal Hartley's deadpan comedy has a drifter inspiring a garbageman to write a scandalous poem. Dry, witty and strange, with James Urbaniak and Parker Posey, it is a cleverly absurd tale of art and fraud.Sinekatalog’s own editorial review – not a user or critic quote.

Ratings

IMDb: 7.1 / 10 (8,276 votes)
IMDb rating and vote count from the IMDb ratings dataset (October 2026). Scores change over time.

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