The Book of Life (1998)
Martin Donovan, PJ Harvey, Thomas Jay Ryan, Miho Nikaido, Dave Simonds, and a cast of thousands…
The Book of Life — Download (2011)
With an outrageous lightness of touch, lucidity, and intelligence, Hal Hartley re-imagines the apocalypse as foretold in Christian tradition. He asks the simple question: would Jesus really put up with this madness? Told with great energy, style, and curiosity, The Book of Life is a humanistic deconstruction of western values and a vigorous exercise in what was in 1998 the new digital media, an unrelenting kaleidoscope of fast moving images and heart-pounding music perfectly capturing a techno-driven, computerized, and postmodernist world. Thoughtful, respectful, funny, and very bold in its assertions, the film was cited by the New York Times as “…whimsical yet deeply serious…”
Making The Book of Life (2005)
A short documentary about the making of The Book of Life. Features interviews with Hal Hartley, Martin Donovan, and Thomas Jay Ryan.
The Book of Life Soundtrack (1999)
Features songs from P.J. Harvey, David Byrne, Yo La Tengo, and many more.
20 Years of Hal Hartley in 2 Minutes (2010)
DJ Mendel narrates 20 years of filmmaking in 2 minutes. An excerpt from the documentary “Years Later” on the new 20th Anniversary Edition DVD of The Unbelievable Truth.
The Ryful Album (2009)
In 1995 Hal Hartley invited three musician friends from drastically different quarters of the contemporary rock scene to collaborate with him on some songs. For about a month they were a band called Ryful—a play on Hartley’s film-scoring pseudonym, “Ned Rifle.”
