In fact, how can you not love it? All the Hartley stylistic markers are here and frankly that should be enough but if it isn't then, well, you'll just have to make do with liking it for its top plot, corking dialogue and entertaining moments. Hal Hartley has been a consistently clever film-maker throughout this decade and "Amateur" is one of his more accomplished works, adding a real depth to some quite seedy characters. Simply put, this film is stonking and, hopefully, after watching it you will be tempted, like me, to go out and watch the rest of the Hartley back catalogue.
