There is no getting away from the fact that watching Julien Donkey Boy is not fun. It is about the irreparably damaged lives (and minds) of a broke American family, each member of which has some serious psychological disorder. The home is ruled by an unloving, demented father whose grown-up ... Read review
There's going to be no middle-ground in your opinion of Harmony Korine's second filmJulien ... more
Donkey Boy--it's either a blazing, daring masterpiece or one of the worst movies ever made. Ewen Bremner, the gawkiest of theTrainspottinggang, transforms himsel...
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Julien (Ewen Bremner) is schizophrenic. His sister Pearl (Chloe Sevigny) is pregnant ... more
father unknown. His pathetic brother Chris (Evan Neumann) aspires to be a wrestling champion. His ex-army father (Werner Herzog) rules the family with an iron fist. ...
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There's going to be no middle-ground in your opinion of Harmony Korine's second filmJulien ... more
Donkey Boy--it's either a blazing, daring masterpiece or one of the worst movies ever made. Ewen Bremner, the gawkiest of theTrainspottinggang, transforms himsel...
Postage & Packaging: £1.21 Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days...
Julien (Ewen Bremner) is schizophrenic. His sister Pearl (Chloe Sevigny) is pregnant, ... more
father unknown. His pathetic brother Chris (Evan Neumann) aspires to be a wrestling champion. His ex-army father (Werner Herzog) rules the family with an iron fist. A...
Only 23 when he directed his extraordinary debut feature "Gummo", Harmony Korine has since ... more
continued to serve notice that he is the most radical young talent in independent US film. This collection of three screenplays - "Jokes", "Gummo" and "Julien Donkey Boy" - displays his unorthodox approach.
There's going to be no middle-ground in your opinion of Harmony Korine's second filmJulien ... more
Donkey Boy--it's either a blazing, daring masterpiece or one of the worst movies ever made. Ewen Bremner, the gawkiest of theTrainspottinggang, transforms himself into the terrifying yet pathetic Julien, with curly black hair, removable teeth, a letter-perfect American maniac accent and the body language of the truly demented. Julien is a schizophrenic but rather than observe his mental problems the film chooses to crawl inside them--we're never sure how much of what we see is actually happening and none of the "sane" characters make much sense either. Julien's family consists of a brother (Evan Neuman) who is constantly climbing stairs like a lizard to beef himself up for a contest that turns out to be ridiculous, a pregnant sister (Chloe Sevigny) who sometimes phones him up pretending to be their dead mother and a hard man father (Werner Herzog) who douses him with freezing water to toughen him up and delivers a bizarrely sincere soliloquy about the superiority of the ending ofDirty Harryover Julien's pretentious improvised poem. Though it comes with a certificate of authenticity from the Danish Dogma 95 movement, it violates several of the cardinal rules of their manifesto epitomised byFestenandThe Idiots: there is unsourced music on the soundtrack, special effects in the form of pixellated or freeze-frame images and action as family arguments explode into scrum-like fights (Korine's directorial debut,Gummo, was closer in spirit to the movement). It opens and closes with the tragic deaths of children, but is mostly a shapeless series of scenes that deliver an impression of madness rather than a story. Bits of it are undeniably irritating, just as mad people usually are, but there are lucid flashes where Korine gets his cast to focus on their characters and provide great scenes. --Kim Newman
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Production Year: 2004 - Drama - Director: Nick Cassavetes - Original Language: English - Classification: 15 years and over, 12 years and over - Starring: Rachel McAdams, Ryan Gosling, Gena Rowlands
Production Year: 2000 - Drama - Director: Giuseppe Tornatore - Original Language: Italian - Classification: 15 years and over - Starring: Monica Bellucci, Giuseppe Sulfaro, Luciano Federico, Matilde Piana
...from the fact that watching Julien Donkey Boy is not fun. It is about the irreparably damaged lives (and minds) of a broke American family, each member of which has some serious psychological disorder. The home is ruled by an unloving, demented father whose grown-up son Julien, played by Ewen Bremner - unrecognizable from any role you have seen him play in the past - suffers from chronic schizophrenia and spends his time mumbling nonsense in moods ... ...must be like to be Julien - never really understanding how one episode of life leads into another.
At no stage during the film does it feel like you are watching anything other than real conversations between real people. Of course this is only possible due to the totally flawless performances by all the central actors. In particular the performances of Ewen Bremner and Werner Herzog have to be seen to be believed. There are several ... more
There is no getting away from the fact that watching Julien Donkey Boy is not fun. It is about the irreparably damaged lives (and minds) of a broke American family, each member of which has some serious psychological disorder. The home is ruled by an unloving, demented father whose grown-up son Julien, played by Ewen Bremner - unrecognizable from any role you have seen him play in the past - suffers from chronic schizophrenia and spends his time mumbling nonsense in moods that flip randomly between hysterical paranoia and spontaneous ecstacy. The middle child played by Chloe Sevigny is pregnant and appears to be the sanest person in the household by some distance, and the younger son is a hopeless aspiring athlete, mercilessly driven not to be a loser by his lunatic father. The father himself meanwhile divides his time between dancing alone to an old country record while wearing a gas mask, telling everyone else in the family how worthless they are, and mourning the passing of his wife which happened during childbirth some seventeen years ago.
Those after a conventional movie experience would be well advised to look elsewhere - there is no narrative thread between the scenes and the story (such as it is) is told by way of random glimpses into the private, nonsensical world of the main character. The effect is to give the viewer some sense of what it must be like to be Julien - never really understanding how one episode of life leads into another.
At no stage during the film does it feel like you are watching anything other than real conversations between real people. Of course this is only possible due to the totally flawless performances by all the central actors. In particular the performances of Ewen Bremner and Werner Herzog have to be seen to be believed. There are several scenes during which Ewen Bremner is filmed with a hidden camera interacting with real people going about their daily business (reminiscent of the Dogma movie genre) and there are long speaking parts for people who do not know they are being flimed. Using this technique, the director Harmony Korine blurs the line between fiction and documentary, giving the audience the feeling that we are watching real life. We all see crazy people like Julien wondering the streets in major cities from time to time, and just like the real, non-acting people in this film, most of us react with fear and look the other way.
This film is not for everyone. It is certainly not the kind of experience I was expecting having seen the review excerpts on the cover and the cover picture itself which give no indication of the brutal experience that await the viewer. The 15 certificate belies the truly disturbing nature of the film (there are other themes apart from schizophrenia about which I will say no more so as not to spoil it).
Having said that, Julien Donkey Boy is a totally unique film which deserves a wider audience (I can't believe I am the first person to review it on Ciao). I hope this review won't put you off watching it.
The "Making Of" feature is about 20 minutes long and shows interviews with the director and most of the stars. It gives a fascinating insight into the inspiration for Julien (Harmony Korine's uncle is a chronic schizophrenic) and delves deep into the creative process.
There are a couple of deleted scenes, neither of which fit well with the theme of the film (hence the deletion). It's a shame that more deleted scenes aren't included.
The theatrical trailer is pretty pointless if you already have the whole movie, but it's included anyway for those that like that sort of thing.
All in all the extras are interesting viewing if you enjoyed the film.
An insight into an American dysfunctional family which consists of Julien who is schizophrenic, his sister chloe who is pregnant, his brother Chris who wants to wrestle professionally and his strict father.
The Making Of Julian Donkey Boy, Star And Director Filmographies, 2 Deleted Scenes, Trailer, Film Review, Scene Selection
Aspect Ratio
Anamorphic Wide Screen
Sound
Dolby Digital
Dubbing Sound
Dolby Digital English
Professional reviews
Review
"...An exciting artistic leap...Korine has found [new] ways to convey emtional terrain..." -- Rating: B+ (Entertainment Weekly, p.89, 29/10/1999)
"...With strong turns and poetic moments, JULIEN DONKEY-BOY is remarkable..." -- 4 out of 5 stars (Total Film, p.96, 01/10/2000)
DVD Description
Flashing a mouthful of fake gold teeth, Julien (Ewen Bremner) wanders the streets of New York City, mumbling nonsensical syllables to himself. He tries to avoid the abuse of his sadistic drunken gas-mask-wearing father (German director Werner Herzog). He cracks a young boy's head open with a rock. He befriends a blind figure skater. He wears a bra and underwear as he wrestles with his younger brother. And his sister, Pearl (Chloe Sevigny), is pregnant--with Julien's child.
Writer-director Harmony Korine succeeds remarkably well in showing the world through Julien's eyes: a schizophrenic kaleidoscope of images--some hauntingly beautiful, some disturbing and violent. The first American film made in accordance with the Danish filmmaking manifesto Dogma 95 (which also includes THE CELEBRATION and MIFUNE), JULIEN DONKEY-BOY uses no cinematic tricks such as artificial lighting or studio sound. Shot on handheld digital video, the film was transferred to 16mm stock before being blown up to 35mm film for the final print. Korine used this unique method to give the film the low-definition, degraded look of an old Super-8 home movie. Pushing the envelope further, Korine rejects classic narrative storytelling in favor of a more poetic succession of scenes. The result is a gritty, surreal collage that powerfully and touchingly evokes the schizophrenic experience as few films have.
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