Customer Reviews

Julien Donkey-Boy [VHS]

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Flashing a giant mouthful of fake gold teeth that he received as a present, Julien (an almost indescribable Ewen Bremner, better known as "Spud" from Trainspotting) aimlessly and shamelessly wanders the depressing streets of his hometown of Queens in his own little schizophrenic world of make-believe, childish song, and unanswered questions.

See and REALLY EXPERIENCE Julien taking a bath, all the while singing and mumbling uncoherently to himself, watch him go to work in Queens as an aide for blind students, see him put on a bra and underwear and wrestle his brother, watch his family go to church, listen and watch him talk to his dead mother on the phone, and finally, watch the breakdown of his damaged & disinegrated pysche as the unthinkable happens to Julien.

The film jumps from one weird scene to the next, all in somewhat of a jumble. It is like you are inside of Julien's own schizophrenic mind as times and at others you are just a silent and invisible onlooker.

Julien lives in a low to middle class & HIGHLY dysfunctional family with his pregnant, tutu wearing sister, Pearl (Chloe Sevigny), his wanna-be wrestler brother Chris (Evan Neumann), his oblivious to it all, crazy, dog loving grandmother (Joyce Korine, the director's true to life grandmother), and above all, the patriarch of the family... Chris, Julien and Pearl's sadistic, drunken, cough syrup swilling, gas-mask-wearing father(a fabulous Werner Herzog).

The story of Julien is based on director Harmony Korine's ("Gummo" & screenwriter of "Kids") own schizophrenic uncle and the location where the movie was shot is the actual house that his uncle grew up in. Thusly, "Julien Donkey-Boy" was made according to the tenets of Dogme 95, the largely European movement based around the "Dogme Vow of Chastity," which eschews, among many other things, any kind of artificial lighting, costumes or props.

The one thing, above all that I find amazing about these types of films like the Dogme 95 group is this filmaking isn't anything "NEW" or "GROUNDBREAKING". Film makers have been doing these types of movies FOR YEARS and YEARS. The change is that now we as viewers get to see experimental & different genres of films. It's just that with LOTS money and the need for something different to be actually "VIEWED" in this century is what is NEW.
"EVERYTHING OLD IS NEW AGAIN..."

The way that the movie is shot is what is so interesting to me. Not the story, plot or cohesiveness, of which there is very little, but the sheer "way" of filming this movie and others like it.

Shot entirely with digital video and hidden cameras on the actor's person whilst the non-sequitur "scenes"; like the scene where Pearl is buying secondhand baby clothes, are ALL shot "off the cuff" and true to life. The other people in the scenes weren't even aware that they were being filmed at the time!
Post-production, the digital video is slowed down in places and given a herky-jerky home movie/Super 8 quality to it. There are also some beautiful scenes that are given an organic quality with green and gold "washes" over them, such as the scene with Pearl in a field of wheat singing to herself. There are also some very dark scenes that are given a cold quality with purple and blue "washes" to them, like the scenes of Julien playing God and Hitler, and, of course, the tragic ending scene to it all...

Is this a film for everyone? Is the story truly "enjoyable"? Of course not. But if you enjoy watching the odd and obscure you will like "Julien Donkey-Boy"

Happy Watching!

Extraordinary second film from Harmony Korine. A portrait of a disfunctional American Family, with career performances from Ewen Bremner as the schizophrenic Julien, Chloe Sevigny as his heavily pregnant sister Pearl, and legendary German director as his overbearing and eccentric father. If you liked "Gummo", Korine's first film, you will assuredly love this film. However, if you despised Gummo for its lack of plot and linear narrative, I still would not necessarily advise you to steer clear. Although the style is again disconnected and fragmented, this time the events that unfold have a markedly more cohesive feel than in Korine's debut. Ewen Bremner is startlingly good as Julien - check his rambling psychobabble as he walks through the city, confusing passers by with lines such as the memorable and hilarious "Excuse me, is my family tree this tree, or that tree?" (Korine used hidden cameras for many scenes, in order to capture genuine reactions from unsuspecting interlopers and therefore, as Korine explains in the "making of.." documentary which supplements the film on the dvd version, "capture something real"). Werner Herzog is equally good as his father - you often feel that it is no wonder that Julien is so messed up, considering the way his dad treats him (and indeed the rest of the family) Chloe Sevigny also shines - this time as Julien's sister, who provides Julien with a mother figure (and a lot more besides!!!), the mother of the family having passed away many years ago. A genuinely original, affecting and at times frankly hilarious movie, you really should not miss it.

Although not for everyone, JDB is a true masterpiece in every sense of the word. If the highest goal of art and cinema is to realistically portray human life and emotion, as imperfect and ugly as it can get most of the time, then this movie succeeds on every level. You're literally brought into the mind of a young schizophrenic and his world, and watching this movie is a lot of work like films should be. Who wants to know what line is coming next like in 95% of Hollywood shlock? At the end of it all, you feel like you've just run a marathon although you've never left your couch, an like all of Korine's films, you're left feeling dirty and used. This is good! Emotionally, you can't help but be drawn into this world and feel the insanity and it is very unsettling. Visually, the grainy DV film and hand held camera work all add to the overall emotion and the editing and cinematogrophy are suberb! Really cutting edge stuff from a destructionist standpoint, where polished dialogue, posh sets and Hollywood extravagence are thrown out the window for reality. I've seen many films in my days and this one is groundbreaking in my view and sets the bar higher for other avante-garde filmakers. You owe in to yourself as a member of the human race to check this movie out.

I remember seeing this with only 5 other people in the theater. No one left until the final credits were over. It then took almost 2 years to get to home video. I think this is an amazing film. Like Gummo, the plot of the film is unimportant. If you tell people what it is, they'll misunderstand it. The way the story is told here is what is most important. Korine is one of the few independent filmmakers out there that is truly independent, in that his films are not for the mainstream. There is no crossover appeal in julien donkey-boy (or Gummo), and Korine is not interested in it anyway. This film feels like a poem, or a piece of music, in which the feeling is most important, not a linear timeline. The whole here is greater than the parts, as opposed to most films, in which there are (sometimes) great setpieces in them, but as a film they're quite often uneven and disjointed. There are disturbing scenes (wouldn't be Korine if there wasn't), but it all seems to work here. Wonderful to see Werner Herzog as well. Excellent film...

This is definitely a film worth seeing, despite what the naysayers have spewed forth. It flows from the same river of feeling that Gummo comes from, but is a much sweeter, fuller, more mature work. One could even say that it is a heart-warming experience. Shot on digital video following the Dogma 95 tenets, it has a great performance by Ewen Bremner (Trainspotting) as the title character. Werner Herzog is a riot as the abusive but well-meaning father, and Chloe Sevigny plays her under-stated, supporting role subtly and deftly. Its been over a year since I've seen the film (and I'm in a small minority, to be sure)... it's arrival on DVD is long overdue. If you aren't a fan of Korine and aren't sure you'd plunk down that much scratch for a film based on some stranger's advice, then please implore your local video store to purchase a copy.

Well.I thought the movie was better than expected. I thought it was going to be plotless like some reviewers said, or really really good. Frist of all it is not plotless, it does have definite meaning although it goes off to a slow start. I mean you kind of realize how messed up this family is at the first sight, you know something is not right, and at the end you really see, and realize that you know people are living just like this in America, maybe not a mirror image but pretty damn similar. So, give it a chance, it's not like it's a 3-hour long movie, watch it and decide for yourself!

I can't believe how young this guy is. He was eighteen when he wrote KIDS. That just blows me away. KIDS is a great film, but it is a Larry Clark film. This is a Harmony Korine film and it is truly something to behold.

I am willing to make the bold statement that Korine is the best American film maker making moivies today. Why? Because his films are so bold. He has faith in his own aesthetic and that gives his work a sincerity, an originality, and a power that most films lack. He has a vision and then he realizes it. This weird little skateboarder is an artist.

This is a movie for the true lover of the medium. If you have to have a linear plot line, pretty characters, or car chases, this movie is not for you. If you like convention, you will not like Harmony's movies. But if you are a fan of honest, iconoclastic art, buy Julien Donkey Boy.

I loved Werner Herzog as the crazy father.

This movie haunted me for several years. Certain scenes come back. At first it was too strange and ugly and even stupidiotic in places. Rather inventive and odd. However, what made me want to buy it was the sheer fact that it is an unforgettable cinematic experience. Too many films are easily forgotten, disposable, formulaic, predictable. This is not one of those films.

Julien Donkey-Boy (Harmony Korine, 1999)

It's been about a week since I saw Julien Donkey-Boy, and I'm still not entirely sure what to make of it. As with all of Korine's movies, it's just a slice of the life of a very, very odd individual, in this case Julien (Alien vs. Predator's Ewen Bremner), a teenager with an ocean of emotional problems, the main one being schizophrenia. We follow him, along with the various other members of his family--father (Werner Herzog), brother Chris (Evan Neumann), and pregnant sister Pearl (Korine regular Chloe Sevigny)--as they go through their lives.

The truly great part of this movie is the minor characters, who are often compelling (more so at times than the principals). As one of the emotionally disturbed, Julien wanders through a number of support groups, and the people he encounters there are fascinating. A number of them could have done with a bit more face time, but we end up seeing much more of the interactions between Julien and his family members, which aren't especially interesting most of the time. There are exceptions, of course, but many of the family scenes slide quickly into the tableau of crazy Julien, disappointed father, embarrassed brother, and sympathetic sister. Korine does attempt (or so I gather from the copy on the back of the DVD case) to introduce a plot with the opening scene, in which Julien kills a playmate, but nothing but the occasional reference in passing is ever made to the scene, and it never even approaches resolution.

This is not to say that the family scenes are devoid of worth; a number of them are as effective as anything else in the film (Julien's long phone conversation with his dead mother is particularly good). I just with there'd been more of a balance between the family scenes and the other aspects of Julien's life. ***

Harmony Korine's "Julien Donkey-Boy" takes a break from the shocking vulgarity that was portrayed in the last film he wrote & directed "Gummo"

and the first film that he wrote "Kids". Both of those films, while Gummo still tends to turn people off, are masterpieces in the sense that they are both disturbing, true, and important. "Julien Donkey-Boy" gives us, basically, a tour into the mind of a schizophrenic boy named Julien. But, how do you sum up this movie with a proper synopsis? Well, first off...This movie could've taken a lot of different directions and it's clear what Korine's goal was in making the film. Having said that, I understand why the cinematography is so screwed up. I mean, this is the grainiest movie you'll ever see and while I appreciate that use of cinematography in several films, it wasn't used through the entire movie. There are times when you can barely see the characters face as a result of it. But, as I said, I know that was the point...I just wanted to mention how annoying it can be. The movie's plot is kind of "eh." Because, it seems that Korine wanted to tell the story in a way that Julien would see it. It won't always make sense. In the middle of the movie, Julien makes a call to what seems to be his sister Pearl (Chloe Sevigny) and confused the hell out of me. I realized Korine would probably provide closure at the end and he kind of did...But not quite. Before I give you my hack-eyed view of the plot, I will say that this movie did work on a number of levels. Korine did justice to the character, the operatic score is very good, and the performances are powerful and sometimes a little too real. But some of the most impressive parts of the movie, don't even really have to do with the movie. Seeing an armless man play drums with his feet, seeing an Albino black man freestyle, it was pretty trippy s**t. Anyways, the plot is basically this...Julien (Ewen Bremner, who is so good it's amazing he's not really like this) is a schizophrenic boy who lives with his pregnant sister Pearl, his brother Chris, and his abusive father. When the movie does take place in the house, we see Julien trying to fit in and notice that Pearl is the only one who's nice to him. His father puts down everyone in the house for one thing or another, Chris could've been erased from the movie and it would still be the same. Anyways, that's about all I can say on the plot...But, I would recommend you not buy this movie before having seen it. If you have a big appreciation for films and for filmmaking, then you should at least enjoy this movie a little bit. There are some really powerful elements to it, especially in the final scene. It's not a masterpiece and there are several things Korine could've done to make it better, but in it's own odd way "Julien Donkey-Boy" is a haunting portrait that doesn't try to make anything look nicer than it really is.

GRADE: B-