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A grieving couple retreat to their cabin in the woods, hoping to repair their broken hearts and troubled marriage. But nature takes its course and things go from bad to worse.
Director:
Lars von Trier
Stars:
Willem Dafoe,
Charlotte Gainsbourg,
Storm Acheche Sahlstrøm
A black comedy drama centered on Larry Gopnik, a Midwestern professor who watches his life unravel through multiple sudden incidents. Though seeking for meaning and answers he seems to stay stalled.
Directors:
Ethan Coen,
Joel Coen
Stars:
Michael Stuhlbarg,
Richard Kind,
Fred Melamed
A man wanders out of the desert not knowing who he is. His brother finds him, and helps to pull his memory back of the life he led before he walked out on his wife and son four years before... See full summary »
Director:
Wim Wenders
Stars:
Harry Dean Stanton,
Sam Berry,
Dean Stockwell
In Berlin, an alcoholic man, recently released from prison, joins his elderly friend and a prostitute in a determined dream to leave Germany and seek a better life in Wisconsin.
Upon admittance to a mental institution, a brash rebel rallies the patients to take on the oppressive head nurse, a woman he views as more dictator than nurse.
Director:
Milos Forman
Stars:
Michael Berryman,
Peter Brocco,
Louise Fletcher
A woman's life is derailed en route to a potentially lucrative summer job. When her car breaks down, and her dog is taken to the pound, the thin fabric of her financial situation comes ... See full summary »
"O, mio babbino caro" plays as a woman skates gracefully. In contrast, little is graceful and daddy is not dear in Julien's world. His father listens to blues wearing a gas mask; dad prods, lectures, and derides Julien as well as Julien's brother and pregnant sister, while grandma attends to her dog. Julien is different, schizophrenic. He wears gold teeth. He bowls, sings, worships, and chats with a group of young adults with disabilities. His sister's child is probably his own. He talks on the phone, imagining it's his mother, who died in childbirth years before. He may be a murderer of children. From his point of view (perhaps), the film follows this odd family for a few weeks. Written by
<jhailey@hotmail.com>
The character played by Werner Herzog tells a story of a soldier, accompanying Pizarro, caught in an ambush, just about to be shot, who sings "Little mother, two by two, wafts the wind on my hair." In Aguirre: The Wrath of God, which Herzog directed, a character recites those very lines. See more »
Quotes
Pearl:
Keep brushing your teeth and you will always be a happy person.
See more »
There is a line that separates two types of independent art-house films often misconstrued as one. One side of the line is populated by films that are inventive and disturbingly stimulating of emotions, usually a completely nude display of unpleasant things and people. The other side is comprised of films that are shocking, repulsive, and generally don't move forward with their stories, instead shuffling sustained sequences where virtually nothing changes, shapelessly finding its way to the end of the movie. julien donkey-boy could either be lying perfectly upon this line between both types of films, or it could be the latter type. Usually, the latter type can be very basically and degradingly entertaining, voyeuristically tempting you to continue watching its stylistic repugnance.
A bigger part of me likes julien donkey-boy. A smaller part of me doesn't. The part of me that likes it is fond of the gritty, demented use of the camera. The film's setting, a trashy, lower middle class environment full of generally unhealthy and unattractive people, is appropriate for Anthony Dod Mantle's bleak, very very grainy and unglamorous lens. Upon reflection, I realize that the film was really trying to say something, but the part of me that doesn't like it tells me that it's too immediately unclear and abstract to be fully understood.
The film's unabashed, possibly record-setting weirdness could be neither a plus or minus, and rather something meant to challenge the viewer, to make us reflect on the judgmental perspective that keeps many from understanding films like these and characters like those that are in it. So I suppose the verdict is that it's a good movie, but for a rare and acquired taste.
5 of 7 people found this review helpful.
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There is a line that separates two types of independent art-house films often misconstrued as one. One side of the line is populated by films that are inventive and disturbingly stimulating of emotions, usually a completely nude display of unpleasant things and people. The other side is comprised of films that are shocking, repulsive, and generally don't move forward with their stories, instead shuffling sustained sequences where virtually nothing changes, shapelessly finding its way to the end of the movie. julien donkey-boy could either be lying perfectly upon this line between both types of films, or it could be the latter type. Usually, the latter type can be very basically and degradingly entertaining, voyeuristically tempting you to continue watching its stylistic repugnance.
A bigger part of me likes julien donkey-boy. A smaller part of me doesn't. The part of me that likes it is fond of the gritty, demented use of the camera. The film's setting, a trashy, lower middle class environment full of generally unhealthy and unattractive people, is appropriate for Anthony Dod Mantle's bleak, very very grainy and unglamorous lens. Upon reflection, I realize that the film was really trying to say something, but the part of me that doesn't like it tells me that it's too immediately unclear and abstract to be fully understood.
The film's unabashed, possibly record-setting weirdness could be neither a plus or minus, and rather something meant to challenge the viewer, to make us reflect on the judgmental perspective that keeps many from understanding films like these and characters like those that are in it. So I suppose the verdict is that it's a good movie, but for a rare and acquired taste.