Ned Rifle is a 2014 American drama film written and directed by Hal Hartley. It is the third and final film in a trilogy following characters introduced in Hartley's 1997 film Henry Fool and 2006 sequel Fay Grim. Ned Rifle stars Liam Aiken as the title character, reprising his role from the other two films, as well as Aubrey Plaza, Parker Posey, James Urbaniak, and Thomas Jay Ryan.
The film premiered on September 7, 2014 at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival.
The film was released in select theaters and on demand beginning on April 1, 2015.
Plot
Kept in a school run on devout Christian 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, she cannot tell him her husband's whereabouts and suggests he contacts her brother Simon, who is a writer in New York. 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, 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 as Ned Rifle
Aubrey Plaza as Susan
Parker Posey as Fay Grim
James Urbaniak as Simon Grim
Thomas Jay Ryan as Henry Fool
Martin Donovan as Rev. Daniel Gardner
Karen Sillas as Alice Gardner
Robert John Burke as Chet
Melissa Bithorn as Clair Gardner
Gia Crovatin as Olive
Bill Sage as Bud
Lloyd Kaufman as Zach
Production
Development
Like Henry Fool (1997) and Fay Grim (2006), Ned Rifle was directed, written, co-produced and composed by Hal Hartley. 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, 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.