Mister Lonely is a new film from director Harmony Korine. It’s his first film in almost 10 years. He gained some notoriety and a little bit of critical respect back in the late 80s when he made Gummo and Julien Donkey-boy. Those were in many ways harsh, provocative but very interesting and daring movies. Sure Lonely is also interesting and daring; but instead of being harsh and provocative, it’s gentle, strange and disarmingly sweet.
It imagines a world in which being a celebrity impersonator is a kind of special and unusual identity. The main character played by Diego Luna is a guy who dresses up like Michael Jackson—and he doesn’t really even look that much like Michael Jackson; he just feels somehow that he is in tune with Michael Jackson. Then he meets and develops a crush on a woman played by Samantha Morton, who dresses and, as she says, lives as Marilyn Monroe. But she is married to Charlie Chaplin and their child is Shirley Temple and they all live together in a commune in the Scottish highland that’s entirely populated by these celebrity impersonators.
That’s a very strange idea for a movie and it could have been campy, *, knowing and ironic. But instead, there is something very sincere and heartfelt about this movie. And one of the ways that it expresses itself is through these beautiful images that Korine fills the screen with. He’s really just a master of composition and camera movement and color.
While the movie doesn’t quite hold together and it’s a little bit too oblique and elusive for my taste, it really leaves you with a very unusual set of moods and feelings and ideas. And it’s a movie that I think will grow on me and will grow on anyone who takes chance to go and see it.
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发表于 2008-8-9 20:45
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