''Ned Rifle'' is a 2014 American
drama film
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-g ...
written and directed by
Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley (born November 3, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and composer who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and '90s. He is best known for his films '' The Unbelievable T ...
. It is the third and final film in a trilogy following characters introduced in Hartley's 1997 film ''
Henry Fool
''Henry Fool'' is a 1997 American black comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by Hal Hartley, featuring Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak, and Parker Posey. Set like previous Hartley films in less affluent parts of Long Island, it recount ...
'' and 2006 sequel ''
Fay Grim
''Fay Grim'' is a 2006 espionage thriller film written and directed by Hal Hartley. The film is a sequel to Hartley's 1997 film '' Henry Fool'', and revolves around the title character, played by Parker Posey, the sister of Simon Grim (James Urbani ...
''.
''Ned Rifle'' stars
Liam Aiken
Liam Pádraic Aiken (born January 7, 1990) is an American actor. He has starred in films such as '' Stepmom'' (1998), ''Road to Perdition'' (2002), and ''Good Boy!'' (2003), and played Klaus Baudelaire in ''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortuna ...
as the title character, reprising his role from the other two films, as well as
Aubrey Plaza
Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She starred as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom '' Par ...
,
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress and musician. Posey is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Satellite Award nomination and two Independent Spirit Award nominations.
Posey made her film debu ...
,
James Urbaniak
James Christian Urbaniak (born September 17, 1963) is an American character actor. He is best known for his roles as Simon Grim in three Hal Hartley films: '' Henry Fool'' (1997), '' Fay Grim'' (2006) and '' Ned Rifle'' (2014), Robert Crumb in ...
, and
Thomas Jay Ryan
Thomas Jay Ryan (born August 1, 1962) is an American stage and film actor. He may be best known for his starring role in the 1997 film ''Henry Fool''.
Early life and education
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ryan attended Carnegie Mellon Univ ...
.
The film premiered on September 7, 2014 at the
2014 Toronto International Film Festival
The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film '' The Judge'', starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duv ...
.
The film was released in select theaters and
on demand
On-demand or on demand may refer to:
Manufacturing
* Build-on-demand
* Just-in-time manufacturing, a methodology for production
* Print on demand, printing technology and business process in which new copies of a document are not printed until an ...
beginning on April 1, 2015.
Plot
Kept in a school run on devout
Christian
Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...
lines, at age 18 Ned is free to leave. His mission in life is to find and kill his rogue father Henry. On visiting his mother, Fay, who is serving a life sentence for
terrorism
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of criminal violence to provoke a state of terror or fear, mostly with the intention to achieve political or religious aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violen ...
, she cannot tell him her husband's whereabouts and suggests he contacts her brother Simon, who is a writer in
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
. Also anxious to see Simon is a penniless postgraduate named Susan, who wants to write about his work. Learning that his father was last heard of working in
Seattle
Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...
, Ned rushes off to the airport. Susan follows him, because she has her own reasons for wanting to find Henry, and Ned reluctantly teams up with her, though he keeps refusing a romance with her.
In Seattle, he learns that his father has lost his mind and is being kept in a special clinic. In fact, Henry shams madness in order to enjoy a quiet life among good books (as Fay does too, though not by choice). Ned abducts his willing father, planning to shoot him in open country, but discovers that Susan has found his revolver and removed its ammunition. She then makes off with Ned's father, money, and gun. Reaching a motel near Spokane, she reveals that she was the 13-year-old girl whose parents burst in just as she had lured Henry to her bed. For that, he got seven years. Now they can carry on legally and their night of passion disturbs the whole motel. Ned meanwhile has traced the pair and in the morning is waiting outside for them to emerge. Susan, having completed her unfinished business with Henry, shoots him dead. Ned bursts in, and in a struggle with Susan accidentally stabs her to death. Outside, armed police are waiting for him.
Cast
*
Liam Aiken
Liam Pádraic Aiken (born January 7, 1990) is an American actor. He has starred in films such as '' Stepmom'' (1998), ''Road to Perdition'' (2002), and ''Good Boy!'' (2003), and played Klaus Baudelaire in ''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortuna ...
as Ned Rifle
*
Aubrey Plaza
Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She starred as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom '' Par ...
as Susan
*
Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress and musician. Posey is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Satellite Award nomination and two Independent Spirit Award nominations.
Posey made her film debu ...
as Fay Grim
*
James Urbaniak
James Christian Urbaniak (born September 17, 1963) is an American character actor. He is best known for his roles as Simon Grim in three Hal Hartley films: '' Henry Fool'' (1997), '' Fay Grim'' (2006) and '' Ned Rifle'' (2014), Robert Crumb in ...
as Simon Grim
*
Thomas Jay Ryan
Thomas Jay Ryan (born August 1, 1962) is an American stage and film actor. He may be best known for his starring role in the 1997 film ''Henry Fool''.
Early life and education
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ryan attended Carnegie Mellon Univ ...
as Henry Fool
*
Martin Donovan
Martin Donovan (born Martin Paul Smith; August 19, 1957) is an American actor. He has had a long collaboration with director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, such as ''Trust'' (1990), '' Surviving Desire'' (1991), '' Simple Men'' (199 ...
as Rev. Daniel Gardner
*
Karen Sillas
Karen Sillas is an American stage and film actress.
Early life
The daughter of a Greek father and a Swedish mother, Sillas was born in Brooklyn. She graduated from the Acting Conservatory of the State University of New York at Purchase.
Car ...
as Alice Gardner
*
Robert John Burke
Robert John Burke (born September 12, 1960) is an American actor known for his roles in '' RoboCop 3'' (1993), '' Tombstone'' (1993), and '' Thinner'' (1996). During the 2000s Burke became well known for his portrayal of Mickey Gavin on '' Rescue ...
as Chet
* Melissa Bithorn as Clair Gardner
*
Gia Crovatin
Gia Alessandra Crovatin is an American actress and producer. She is best known for her film roles as Dylan in the 2015 comedy film '' Dirty Weekend'' and Sasha in the comedy film '' I Feel Pretty''.
Her television roles include Drew in the comedy ...
as Olive
*
Bill Sage as Bud
*
Lloyd Kaufman
Stanley Lloyd Kaufman Jr. (born December 30, 1945) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. Alongside producer Michael Herz (producer), Michael Herz, he is the co-founder of Troma Entertainment film studio, and the director ...
as Zach
Production
Development
Like ''
Henry Fool
''Henry Fool'' is a 1997 American black comedy-drama film written, produced and directed by Hal Hartley, featuring Thomas Jay Ryan, James Urbaniak, and Parker Posey. Set like previous Hartley films in less affluent parts of Long Island, it recount ...
'' (1997) and ''
Fay Grim
''Fay Grim'' is a 2006 espionage thriller film written and directed by Hal Hartley. The film is a sequel to Hartley's 1997 film '' Henry Fool'', and revolves around the title character, played by Parker Posey, the sister of Simon Grim (James Urbani ...
'' (2006), ''Ned Rifle'' was directed, written, co-produced and composed by
Hal Hartley
Hal Hartley (born November 3, 1959) is an American film director, screenwriter, producer and composer who became a key figure in the American independent film movement of the 1980s and '90s. He is best known for his films '' The Unbelievable T ...
. While promoting ''Fay Grim'' in 2007, Hartley mentioned the possibility for a third film, hinting that Aiken's character Ned would be the story's focus. Hartley started writing ''Ned Rifle'' around 2012, and finished the script in two weeks.
The film is titled after Hartley's pseudonym, Ned Rifle, the credited name that he typically uses as composer on his films.
Ned Rifle was originally a character that Hartley made up for college writing assignments. For the third film, he thought it sounded like a better title than ''Ned Fool'' or ''Ned Grim''.
The storyline is done on a smaller scale compared to ''Fay Grim'', more in line with ''Henry Fool''. This was done in part because of a small budget, and also because Hartley did not want to make another big-production project. He wanted the storyline to be simpler and more linear than ''Fay Grim''.
[ Hartley said the structure of ''Ned Rifle'' was heavily influenced by his 2011 short film '']Meanwhile
Meanwhile may refer to:
Music Albums
* ''Meanwhile'' (Camouflage album), 1991
*'' ...Meanwhile'', a 1992 album by British pop band 10cc
*'' Meanwhile...'', a 1995 album by world fusion ensemble Trance Mission
* ''Meanwhile'' (Gorillaz EP), a 202 ...
'', which chronicles a man "as he goes from one situation to the next".[ The character Susan and her relationship with Henry are briefly mentioned in ''Henry Fool''. Re-watching the film over the years, Hartley regretted that the topic of this relationship was not expanded upon. While writing ''Ned Rifle'', he felt that the story was lacking something. Upon watching ''Henry Fool'' again, he decided to incorporate Susan into the story.][
In May 2013, ]Fortissimo Films
Fortissimo Films is a Dutch sales, film production company specializing in the production, presentation, promotion and distribution of feature films, founded in 1991 acquired the global sales rights for the film at the 2013 Cannes Film Festival
The 66th Cannes Film Festival took place in Cannes, France, from 15 to 26 May 2013. Steven Spielberg was the head of the jury for the main competition. New Zealand film director Jane Campion was the head of the jury for the Cinéfondation and S ...
. On November 6, 2013, Hartley launched a fundraising campaign to produce the film through Kickstarter
Kickstarter is an American public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative projects to life". As of July 2021, ...
, seeking a total of $384,000 and offering various incentives to those who donated $1 or more. The main cast, as well as some crew members, appeared in several videos promoting the campaign. On November 25, Hartley added a $9,000 reward tier offering the film's distribution rights for seven years in the United States and other countries, notably the first Kickstarter to propose offering film distribution rights. Subsequently, Kickstarter notified Hartley that selling distribution rights is a form of investment, which is forbidden by Kickstarter's terms and conditions, and Hartley removed the option. The Kickstarter campaign ended on December 4, with 1,789 donors raising $395,292.
Casting
Liam Aiken
Liam Pádraic Aiken (born January 7, 1990) is an American actor. He has starred in films such as '' Stepmom'' (1998), ''Road to Perdition'' (2002), and ''Good Boy!'' (2003), and played Klaus Baudelaire in ''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortuna ...
, Parker Posey
Parker Christian Posey (born November 8, 1968) is an American actress and musician. Posey is the recipient of a Golden Globe Award nomination, a Satellite Award nomination and two Independent Spirit Award nominations.
Posey made her film debu ...
, James Urbaniak
James Christian Urbaniak (born September 17, 1963) is an American character actor. He is best known for his roles as Simon Grim in three Hal Hartley films: '' Henry Fool'' (1997), '' Fay Grim'' (2006) and '' Ned Rifle'' (2014), Robert Crumb in ...
, and Thomas Jay Ryan
Thomas Jay Ryan (born August 1, 1962) is an American stage and film actor. He may be best known for his starring role in the 1997 film ''Henry Fool''.
Early life and education
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Ryan attended Carnegie Mellon Univ ...
reprise their roles from the first two films. In addition, Martin Donovan
Martin Donovan (born Martin Paul Smith; August 19, 1957) is an American actor. He has had a long collaboration with director Hal Hartley, appearing in many of his films, such as ''Trust'' (1990), '' Surviving Desire'' (1991), '' Simple Men'' (199 ...
, Karen Sillas
Karen Sillas is an American stage and film actress.
Early life
The daughter of a Greek father and a Swedish mother, Sillas was born in Brooklyn. She graduated from the Acting Conservatory of the State University of New York at Purchase.
Car ...
, Robert John Burke
Robert John Burke (born September 12, 1960) is an American actor known for his roles in '' RoboCop 3'' (1993), '' Tombstone'' (1993), and '' Thinner'' (1996). During the 2000s Burke became well known for his portrayal of Mickey Gavin on '' Rescue ...
, and Bill Sage had worked with Hartley on his other previous films.[
Casting for the character of Susan took months, with 60 to 70 women auditioning for the part, some of whom would later get other roles in the film.] Gemma Arterton
Gemma Christina Arterton (born 2 February 1986) is an English actress and producer. After her stage debut in Shakespeare's ''Love's Labour's Lost'' at the Globe Theatre (2007), Arterton made her feature film debut in the comedy '' St Trinian's'' ...
was reportedly attached at one point. In March 2014, it was announced that Aubrey Plaza
Aubrey Christina Plaza (born June 26, 1984) is an American actress, comedian, and producer. She began her career performing improv and sketch comedy at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater. She starred as April Ludgate on the NBC sitcom '' Par ...
joined the cast, playing the role of Susan. Hartley cast Plaza after seeing her prior acting performances, including ''Parks and Recreation
''Parks and Recreation'' (also known as ''Parks and Rec'') is an American political satire mockumentary sitcom television series created by Greg Daniels and Michael Schur. The series aired on NBC from April 9, 2009, to February 24, 2015, for 125 ...
''.[ Her part in the 2012 film '']Safety Not Guaranteed
''Safety Not Guaranteed'' is a 2012 American science fiction romantic comedy film directed by Colin Trevorrow and starring Aubrey Plaza and Mark Duplass. The picture was screened at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Waldo Salt Scr ...
'' convinced him that she would be right for the role of Susan.[ Plaza sought advice from Posey and Donovan to prepare for the role.]
Filming
In March 2014, Hartley scouted locations in Queens, Brooklyn and the Bronx, as well as locations that could double for parts of Washington state.
Principal photography
Principal photography is the phase of producing a film or television show in which the bulk of shooting takes place, as distinct from the phases of pre-production and post-production.
Personnel
Besides the main film personnel, such as actor ...
began in early April 2014, and took place entirely in New York. Filming locations included Brooklyn, Long Island City
Long Island City (LIC) is a residential and commercial neighborhood on the extreme western tip of Queens, a borough in New York City. It is bordered by Astoria to the north; the East River to the west; New Calvary Cemetery in Sunnyside to the ...
,[ and the ]SUNY Purchase
The State University of New York at Purchase (commonly Purchase College or SUNY Purchase) is a Public college, public Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Purchase, New York. It is one of 13 comprehensive colleges ...
campus. Urbaniak said, "Every time I revisit the character of Simon Grim I have to relearn how to be awkward and uptight".[ Posey shot her scenes in a day.][ Filming wrapped on April 26, after 22 days.]
Release
A teaser for ''Ned Rifle'' was released on July 22, 2014. The film premiered on September 7, 2014 at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival
The 39th annual Toronto International Film Festival, the 39th event in the Toronto International Film Festival series, was held in Canada from 4–14 September 2014. David Dobkin's film '' The Judge'', starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duv ...
. It was also screened in the Panorama section of the 65th Berlin International Film Festival
The 65th annual Berlin International Film Festival was held from 5 to 15 February 2015, with American film director Darren Aronofsky as the President of the Jury. German film director Wim Wenders was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear. The ...
on February 6, 2015. The film's US debut premiered at SXSW
South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Te ...
in Austin, Texas on March 13, 2015 and was available for viewing on demand on Hartley's official website beginning on April 1, 2015. The film was released in a limited release
__FORCETOC__
Limited theatrical release is a film distribution strategy of releasing a new film in a few theaters across a country, typically art house theaters in major metropolitan markets. Since 1994, a limited theatrical release in the Unite ...
on the same day.
Critical reception
On review aggregator
A review aggregator is a system that collects reviews of products and services (such as films, books, video games, software, hardware, and cars). This system stores the reviews and uses them for purposes such as supporting a website where users ...
website Rotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...
, the film has an approval rating of 78% based on 32 reviews, and an average rating of 6.5/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "''Ned Rifle'' serves as a satisfying conclusion to Hal Hartley's "Henry Fool" trilogy - and one of the strongest late-period works from a distinguished filmography." On Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...
, the film has a weighted average score of 67 out of 100, based on 16 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
References
External links
*
*
*
Ned Rifle - Official Website
{{Hal Hartley
2014 films
2014 drama films
American drama films
American independent films
Kickstarter-funded films
Films directed by Hal Hartley
2014 independent films
2010s English-language films
2010s American films