Very late 80s/early 90s in the best ways. Existential, ironic, deadpan. Hal Hartley had his own unique style and tone, and I’m into it.

On the surface, Trust features a similar set-up to The Unbelievable Truth, with a high school drop-out falling for an older man, blue collar parents, Long Island locations, and many of the same actors (though notably, it's Martin Donovan's first collaboration with Hartley - he would become a regular). The question asked by the title is who can you trust, and in this universe, the two leads can't really trust anyone but each other. Which is to say, I'm not sure they can trust themselves. They're almost each other's consciences, but are pushing one another to do what they were always going to do, which is Hartley's usual push at conventional storytelling. Donovan is an electronics expert whose ethics get in the way of keeping steady work. Adrienne Shelly is a pregnant teen contemplating abortion, but it also playing detective to find a baby snatcher. Each of their parents are toxic and untrustworthy (as is anyone past the age of 30). And it's still a comedy! I found this one highly amusing, but also relatably dramatic. There's one shot in particular, where Shelly sits between the baby and the presumed baby snatcher that speaks to a generational unhappiness. But what if we replaced suspicion with trust? And more importantly, endeavored to be worthy of that trust? One of my favorite Hartleys.

R.I.P. Adrienne Shelly