ETHAN HAWKE FAN FLAMES OF FIRST LOVE IN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL 'HOTTEST STATE'.

Byline: GLENN WHIPP 

>FILM CRITIC

Ethan Hawke's adaptation of his own 1996 novel, "The Hottest State," played last year at film festivals in Venice and Toronto, generating buzz that ranged from indifferent to downright scornful.

My question: Why all the hate?

Hawke just seems to bring out the resentment in some people (some folks still can't move past "Reality Bites"), but he's a talented filmmaker, keenly conveying mood, detail and story in ways that are very true to life.

"The Hottest State" is a first-

love tale, detailing the intense romance between a 20-year-old New York actor named William (Mark Webber) and the enigmatic (at least, to William) Sara (Catalina Sandino Moreno), a singer looking to make it on her own.

Like most first novels, "The Hottest State" came from Hawke's own experiences as a young man. What distinguishes the movie is that the 36-year-old Hawke hasn't forgotten what it's like to be inexperienced and foolish. The movie captures how that first, transforming romance can bring out a desire that is all-encompassing and, at times, downright dumb and ugly.

In short, Hawke knows that everybody plays the fool -- at least once in a lifetime. The story is told very much from William's point of view, which means that the Sara character gets short-changed. But then, one of the movie's strengths is its refusal to explain Sara's mercurial mood changes.

"I came to New York to be free," she tells William, not long after a sex-filled week in Mexico. "I don't want a boyfriend."

How do you respond to that? If you're William, you do so very badly, partly due to the feelings of failure that have festered in his heart since the break-up of his parents' marriage. Since then, mom (Laura Linney, great as a font of wisdom) and dad (Hawke) seem to have moved on, but William has never recovered from the loss, much less dealt with it.

Hawke the director indulges Hawke the writer a bit, but there's no denying the beauty of the language and imagery contained in "The Hottest State." Following Hawke's debut feature, the underrated "Chelsea Walls," the film confirms Hawke as an artist who can make poetry and everyday experience come alive on the screen.

Glenn Whipp, [phone].

[e-mail]

THE HOTTEST STATE

>R: sex, language.

>Starring: Mark Webber, Catalina Sandino Moreno.

>Director: Ethan Hawke.

>Running time: 1 hr. 57 min.

>Playing: Laemmle's Sunset 5 in West Hollywood.

>In a nutshell: Writer-director Ethan Hawke captures first love in all its foolish, feverish glory.

CAPTION(S):

photo

Photo:

Mark Webber stars as William, a 20-year-old actor caught in the throes of first love in "The Hottest State," directed by Ethan Hawke.