DVDA_CHICK_19 Review of The Brown Bunny

The Brown Bunny (2003)

Searching for a safe place and for the lost brown bunny...

[10/10 · 30 December 2004]

THE BROWN BUNNY. Written and Directed By Vincent Gallo. Starring Vincent Gallo and Chloe Sevigny. **CONTAINS SPOILERS** Watching this film is like being stuck in the mind and journey of the main character Bud Clay for 93 minutes straight (or longer, but the film was cut shorter sadly) and feeling what he is going through at every minute as the film goes on. It's almost like your in the car with him looking out the window seeing the sights he sees on his way to Los Angeles. Bud Clay is finishing a motorcycle race, doing laps round and round, over and over. After the race he is leaving New Hampshire. He loads up his bike by himself in the back on his brown van getting ready for his long trip to Los Angeles, California. He's going to go back to his home he once shared with his girlfriend Daisy Lemon and to compete in yet another race which is in 5 days. On his way he interacts with 3 different ladies - all of which have names of various flowers. None of these girls can really compare to the true flower he adores, the one woman he will always be devoted to which is of course, Daisy. The first woman he comes across is Violet who is a young sweet American girl working at a gas station in the boonies... after he fills his gas tank, Bud begs her to come with him on the trip and she agrees without a lot of hesitation to leave everything behind. He drops her off at her parents place so she can get her belongings and while she's still inside, he takes off in his van. After this he takes a stop in his old neighborhood where he grew up with Daisy as a child... and he goes to her old house where her parents are still living. While he stops to have a chat with her elderly parents and goes on to tell a few memories... we notice a small bunny in a cage that hasn't grown at all since the last time Bud has seen it, which is Daisy's rabbit. Her parents claim to not remember Bud or even coming to visit him and Daisy a while ago in L.A. Bud leaves the house and we watch him drive and drive, we ride with him through the dark nights, and through the rainy days... we see him imagine Daisy is in the passenger seat of the van kissing him. The next woman he comes across while getting a soda at the machine is a middle aged woman who has the name Lilly in big letters written on her purse. She is sitting all alone at a picnic table eyeing up Bud as he gets out of his Van at the rest stop. He begins making out with her overpoweringly...of course, he doesn't stick around and pulls away from her, and continues on his way. As Bud is driving you can sense all his sadness through the simple shots of his face expressions and it's clear he's beyond precarious... Finally, he makes it to Las Vegas and picks up this prostitute with the name of Rose... he asks her to have lunch with him and buys her food at McDonalds, tells her to get out of the van and gives her some money and takes off once again. When he reaches L.A. he fixes up his bike and then goes to repeatedly knock on the door of the home that him and Daisy once lived which looks deserted. He places a note on the door telling her his location and what hotel he's staying at. He checks into the hotel and sits on the bed awaiting her arrival... suddenly we see lovely Daisy standing at the door and it all comes clean from there...Bud is upset with her and is very cold when she tries to comfort him. It's all clear he wants her more than ever but has this hate burning up inside for her for what she has done to him in the past when they were together and it's difficult for him to show her the right amount of affection. This leads to the big blow job scene that everyone gets so worked up over, I think the scene has a moral purpose and I actually think highly of it ... it's not a dirty pornographic scene but a perfect explanation for why he has such revulsion towards her. (do not read ahead if you don't want to know the ending!) They begin to discuss the past and Bud just cries out to her asking "WHY" she did what she did to him... it's painful to sit through, a whole flashback is revealed where everything that happened is exposed. Bud left Daisy at a party with 3 guys who raped her when she was high and unconscious... he saw this and didn't even make an attempt to try and stop it. He felt like he could never forgive her for getting wasted and seeing her with other these other men. Once he left her, there was no one left to help her and she choked. We realize that Daisy Lemon isn't actually alive, she arrived at the hotel room because it was a creation by Bud's own imagination... she is no longer by his side after this and Bud is laying on the empty bed all by himself. Perhaps he is still in a safe place with Daisy, his brown bunny, but only in his mind. Still… no matter what, Bud Clay will remain lost the rest of his life without her. I give this film a 10/10 without a doubt... I think Gallo is one amazing man and I am proud of him for making such a brilliant and unique masterpiece, too bad people look down on it like they do. Anyone who enjoyed it... check out the soundtrack, that is also an astonishing piece of work.