Kind of like an episode of X Files.... Girl from Monday has a basic outline of a plot, but we are given more questions than answers. "Someone" from the future comes back looking for "someone else". There's an underground gang of revolutionaries, which keeps almost getting caught. And in the future, somehow sexual intercourse between people has monetary value... but so many inconsistencies here. When William and Cecile have unauthorized love, only she seems to be caught and punished. Yet when Jack and Cecile ALMOST make love, only Jack is punished. The cops of the future seem much more adept at catching people making love than bombing government buildings. and Jack holds down a full time job that does... what, exactly? The basic premise is actually really good, but the script is pretty shaky. Needed tightening up. And the first five minutes employed strange edits, freeze frames, slow motion, and weird jumps. Thankfully, that stopped after the first few minutes. almost turned it off. The only big name I recognized was Edie Falco, from Sopranos and Nurse Jackie. Looks like the director uses her in a bunch of his films. If you like futuristic films which are a little fuzzy, plot wise, and don't mind having many un-answered questions, you'll probably like this one. From Hal Hartley, who has been writing and directing for years. Currently showing on Fandor Channel.

The dialogue is stilted, the acting is just awful, the back story is sketchy---especially frustrating in a film that hangs on its back story---and the "futuristic" props are so cheap as to be comical. The social-scientific concept of the movie sounds rather intriguing when read in summary on Wikipedia, but it's not fleshed out in the film. Worse yet, there's no connection established between that concept and the extra-terrestrial aspects of the story. Overall, this movie lacks a coherent plot, on top of stunningly poor execution. Indeed, the best thing about this film is the titles design. So watch those and move on---don't waste the next 80 minutes of your life.

So hopefully this was just a blip on the screen of an otherwise good career. Was the talk of the Sundance shuttle bus...but not in a good way.Too many amateurish techniques. Voice over narration in an attempt to get a noir feeling but most of the time was actually for exposition because the story wasn't getting told on the screen.Bad camera technique that would be okay in small doses (ie: a dream sequence) but was tiring and distracting from the opening credits onward. Kept waiting for the "real" movie to start.The girl from Monday doesn't make an appearance for quite awhile in the movie and then gets left in an apartment to learn to use her body (or course she swam out of the ocean quite well).Anyway...I had to leave about the time the boy was getting "raped" in the school bathroom. Time is too precious at Sundance and I went to "Rory O'Shea was Here" and the contrast couldn't have been higher between the two.Is probably a waste of time to anyone but his fans.D.

Shown at New York's Museum of Modern Art, January 2005. Introduced by the Directer with the major cast in attendance.A satirical swipe at Big Government and Big Business. Government and business are in a conspiracy to exploit the public. The film also ridicules the situation in the schools where guns are checked at the door. The main characters are rebelling against the big powers.Life is not good for the workers. Everything is turned into a profit maker for the big company which is an arm of the government. Sex, for example, cannot be enjoyed for pleasure but is used to earn purchasing credits. Sex for pleasure is punishable.All students take Attention Deficit pills. The school situation is so bad, that a criminal sentence is to teach high school for two years.The action takes place in the "future' but the very near future as the cars, streets, clothes, etc are all modern day. The film was shot almost entirely in downtown Manhattan. Some parts looks like a hand held camera was used but the resulting film is professional in look and color.The acting and action move the action along at a nice pace. The Girl From Monday arrives from a planet(?)called Monday. A space visitor is not really necessary to the story but it allows the "Monday" character to observe the local people with a fresh eye.The "bad" motives and actions of the government, corporation, and The Police are beaten to death with a fairly heavy hand but that is the point of the film which arose from a "rant" written by the Director who later decided to put his criticisms on film.Have not seen any of this director's previous films to compare but this film was an enjoyable look at what could happen if the "Military/Industrial Complex" of the 1950's becomes the Government/Industrial Complex of today.