Hey guys, good news: I got another review of a weird little inaccessible arthouse movie from last year! This time it’s MISTER LONELY, the most recent movie about a Michael Jackson impersonator in Paris who meets a Marilyn Monroe impersonator who convinces him to come live in a commune where other impersonators live inside a Scottish castle, raise sheep and build a stage where they hope to put on a show. And you can imagine where it would go from there.
In my opinion MISTER LONELY writer/director Harmony Korine is a weird dude. He wrote KIDS for Larry Clark when he was 19, became a director with GUMMO and later did JULIEN DONKEY BOY. His movies are freak shows of improvisation, arty photography and the complete rejection of any mainstream idea of what a movie is supposed to be. As much as I have tried to push the idea of him directing a mainstream movie like a MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE it doesn’t seem to be something he’s interested in. Instead he hangs out with Werner Herzog, gets involved in that whole Dogme 95 deal, and makes weird books with titles like A Crack Up At the Race Riots. He’s also known for his bizarre interviews like on Letterman when he was younger or with a fan websight who he instructed to meet him in the projects, then spoke to them by phone for a while, then showed up and made them listen to Beyonce on a laptop while he sat in a lawnchair petting his dog.
So MISTER LONELY is the kind of movie a guy like that would make as he’s growing up slightly. It’s weird for weirdness sake, but kind of charming, kind of funny, kind of arty, very ridiculous. It has some dark and sad moments but not the same kind of punk attitude or shock value as the younger Korine. It’s just as strange but maybe more sincere. It’s kind of a sweet surrealist fairy tale with some beautiful images and colors as you can tell by these pictures. Also a part where Michael Jackson rides a mini-bike in slow motion with a monkey doll tied to the back bouncing up in the air like it’s flying. (more…)
