Mister Lonely (2007)

Director:

Harmony Korine

Writers:

Harmony Korine (written by) &
Avi Korine (written by)

Release Date:

2 February 2008 (Japan)

Genre:

Comedy | Drama

Plot:

In Paris, a young American who works as a Michael Jackson lookalike meets Marilyn Monroe, who invites him to her commune in Scotland, where she lives with Charlie Chaplin and her daughter, Shirley Temple. |

Plot Keywords:

Commune | Reference To Abraham Lincoln | Bathtub | Skydiving | Show

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

Diego Luna	...	Michael Jackson
Samantha Morton	...	Marilyn Monroe
Denis Lavant	...	Charlie Chaplin
James Fox	...	The Pope
Werner Herzog	...	Father Umbrillo
Leos Carax	...	Renard
Richard Strange	...	Abraham Lincoln
Jason Pennycooke	...	Sammy Davis, Jr.
Anita Pallenberg	...	The Queen
Rachel Korine	...	Little Red Riding Hood
Joseph Morgan	...	James Dean
Melita Morgan	...	Madonna
Daniel Rovai	...	Moe Stooge
Nigel Cooper	...	Curly Stooge
Mal Whiteley	...	Larry Stooge
Esme Creed-Miles	...	Shirley Temple
Michael-Joel David Stuart	...	Buckwheat (as Michael Joel-Stuart)
Cerrlera	...	Man with Flowers
Britta Gartner	...	Nun
Camille De Pazzis	...	Nun 2 (as Camille de Piazzis)
David Blaine	...	Priest 2
Eve Korine	...	Nun
Elina Larrauga	...	Nun
Loreto Barcelo	...	Nun
Gundula Hofer	...	Nun
Sabina Ruiz	...	Nun
Lila Munro	...	Nun
Leslie Aldredge	...	Nun
Louisa Jones	...	Nun
Aralelly Davidson	...	Nun
Anyury Trotman	...	Nun
Mikeysha Calimoke	...	Nun
Sue Clark	...	Nun
Macia Zapata	...	Nun
Eric Cornet	...	Dunce on Paris Bus
Franck Milhan	...	Dunce on Paris Bus (as Franck Milihan)
Alisa Grace Greaves	...	Autograph Girl
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Quentin Grosset	...	Le petit garçon (uncredited)

Directed by
Harmony Korine

Writing credits
Harmony Korine		(written by) &
Avi Korine		(written by)

Produced by
Charles-Marie Anthonioz	....	associate producer
Agnès B.	....	executive producer
Adam Bohling	....	co-producer
Ann Carli	....	associate producer
James Flynn	....	associate producer
Harmony Korine	....	producer
Richard Mansell	....	associate producer
Hengameh Panahi	....	associate producer
David Reid	....	co-producer
Nadja Romain	....	producer
Peter Watson	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Jason Spaceman
The Sun City Girls

Cinematography by
Marcel Zyskind

Film Editing by
Paul Zucker
Valdís Óskarsdóttir

Casting by
Sarah Crowe

Production Design by
Richard Campling

Art Direction by
Johnny Campling

Costume Design by
Judy Shrewsbury

Makeup Department
Jo Allen	....	hair designer
Jo Allen	....	makeup designer
Mark English	....	hair stylist

Production Management
Sylvain Marques	....	assistant unit manager: french unit
Dean O'Toole	....	unit production manager
Charlotte Puiroux	....	assistant unit manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Sonia Delhaye	....	trainee assistant director
James Hagger	....	first assistant director
Anna Sheldrake	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Robert Crewe	....	construction manager
Josh Fifarek	....	set designer
Alex Raine	....	assistant art director
Lee Whiteman	....	props
Lee Whiteman	....	scenic artist

Sound Department
Julie Ankerson	....	foley artist
Vincent Arnardi	....	sound re-recording mixer
Tim Barker	....	sound recordist: Panama crew
Thomas Bernard	....	sound recordist
Ben Brazier	....	sound editor
Simon Bysshe	....	playback operator
Simon Bysshe	....	sound assistant
Adam Davidson	....	adr recordist
Jamie Gambell	....	sound mixer
Loïc Gourbe	....	sound recordist
Ben Greaves	....	boom operator
Mathew Knights	....	sound re-recording mixer
Julien Perez	....	sound re-recording mixer
Bruno Seznec	....	mastering
Anna Sulley	....	sound effects editor

Visual Effects by
Paul Beard	....	visual effects line producer
Simon Carr	....	visual effects design: Men-from-Mars
Adam Christopher	....	digital colourist
Emma Clifton	....	digital effects artist
Harriet Donington	....	visual effects producer
Simon Frame	....	visual effects supervisor
Lionel Heath	....	compositor: Men from Mars
Rick Leach	....	rotoscoper
Tom Pegg	....	digital effects artist

Camera and Electrical Department
Paul Dain	....	camera trainee
Henry Landgrebe	....	clapper loader
Jens Lund-Larsen	....	best boy
Richard Miles	....	electrician
Pete Nash	....	grip
Brent Stewart	....	photographer
Juergen Teller	....	photographer
Simon Tindall	....	first assistant camera
Jacob Østergaard	....	gaffer

Casting Department
Marie-Sylvie Caillierez	....	casting
Cassandra King	....	casting associate

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Alan Flyng	....	costume supervisor
Claire Tong	....	costumer

Editorial Department
Andrew Haigh	....	first assistant editor
Jamie Rogers	....	trainee assistant editor
Matthew Streatfield	....	assistant editor
Alex Panton	....	digital intermediate producer (uncredited)

Music Department
Liz Gallacher	....	music supervisor

Other crew
Freya Beales	....	production assistant
Laure Bregevin	....	script supervisor: UK and France
Catia Di Giorgio	....	production coordinator
Samantha Gardner	....	production secretary
Paul Harris	....	choreographer
Glynn Henderson	....	safety consultant
François Lamotte	....	other crew
Richard Lormand	....	unit publicist
Richard McNeill	....	production accountant
Sylvia Parker	....	script supervisor
Manuel Pouet	....	location scout
Tracey Taylor	....	assistant post-production accountant (uncredited)

Thanks
Abner Benaim	....	special thanks
Laura De Casto	....	very special thanks
Joshua Elrod	....	special thanks (as Elbone)
Alainée Kent	....	special thanks
Alexandra Stone	....	thanks

Production Companies

• Love Streams Productions (in co-production with)
• O' Salvation (as An O'SALVATION Production)
• Recorded Picture Company (RPC) (in co-production with)
• Agnès b. Productions (in co-production with)
• Film4 (in association with)
• arte France Cinéma (in co-production with)
• Fuzzy Bunny Films (I)
• Dreamachine (in association with)
• Metropolitan Films
• O'South

Distributors

• Kino Bez Granits (2008) (Russia) (theatrical)
• Maximum Film Distribution (2008) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Shellac Distribution (2008) (France) (theatrical)
• Canana Films (2009) (Mexico) (all media)
• Cinemax (2008) (Hungary) (TV)
• Dreamachine (2007) (worldwide) (all media)
• Front Row Filmed Entertainment (2007) (United Arab Emirates) (all media) (Middle East)
• GAGA (2007) (Japan) (all media) (in association with) (as GAGA)

Other Companies

• Film Council Development Fund  made with the support of
• Fuji Photo Film  motion picture film supplied by
• MJ Knights Military Effects  armourer
• Malde & Co.  financial consultants
• Sapex Scripts  post-production script services

Also Known As:

Runtime:

112 min

Country:

UK | France | Ireland | USA

Language:

English | French

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:Not Rated | Canada:14A (Ontario) | UK:15 | Australia:M | Mexico:B15 | Canada:G (Québec) | Singapore:PG

Filming Locations:

Bocas del Toro, Panama

Company:

Love Streams Productions

Trivia:

In an interview with a newspaper in his hometown of Nashville, Tenn., Harmony Korine stated that he made several trips to Iceland to scout locations for the film. He ended up ditching that idea altogether and shooting the film in Scotland and France.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: The shape of the nuns' parachutes are visible as they are falling from the plane.

Quotes:

Michael Jackson:It's hard to always laugh when you don't know what people find so funny.

Movie Connections:

Featured in "Into the Night with...: Harmony Korine und Gaspar Noé" (2010)

Soundtrack:

Lumpungu

Oddball parlour

Harmony Korine returned to the cinematographic circuit after a 8-year long hiatus, no longer a prolific and controversial teenager, now evolved in style, subtlety, film language and self-conscience. Apparently inspired by his own failings in life Korine delves into the wacky world of celebrity impersonators - of people not satisfied with who they are and acquisitioning the personas of others in a search for betterment and happiness. Michael Jackson (Diego Luna of "Y Tu Mamá También" fame) does the moonwalk on the streets of London, dancing and acting his part in front of passerby's while the boom-box stays conspicuously silent. Upon a chance meeting with Marilyn Monroe (Samantha Morton) he decide to join an impersonator community living off the land on a island near the Scottish coast. There amidst Charlie Chaplin, Abraham Lincoln, the Stooges, Madonna and James Dean he finds an idyllic bubble of happiness. The catalyst for the Utopian self-destruction comes in the form of a sheep disease, which forces the motley band to kill and burn their carcasses. With it burning the feeling of safety and detachment from worry.

"Mister Lonely" also features a second thread running parallel and seemingly unconnected with the main storyline. It tells the story of a group of nuns, who believe that through the power of faith they are able to fly. Their pilot - a catholic priest Father Umbrillo is adorably played by Werner Herzog, a adequate comrade in arms for Korine given the strong metaphysical essence of his work. Albeit seemingly disparate, the two interloping stories basically deal with the same issue of striving to become an ideal - through faith fulfilling the will of god or by imitating the semblance of perfection of the impersonated celebrity.

The theme chosen for his career reboot seems like very fortuitous and ripe for the picking by a avantgarde artist such as Corine. Dealing with a relatively abundant production budget Corine pulls no stops to deliver a visually perfect movie, proving beyond a doubt his immaculate taste for picture and music, seamlessly constructing beautiful albeit absurd imagery (Michael Jackson riding a mini bike to the song "Mister Lonely", flying nuns of BMXs or face-covered yoga training). Astounding vivid and mesmeric with a strong premise the overall artistic success is pretty obvious, especially in comparison the the raw predecessors. Albeit not entirely style over substance Corine fails to balance the ideas and images with a passable story. No longer a chaotic collage of relatively unconnected scenes ("Gummo"), structured around the island community "Mister Lonely" feels overly improvisational and uninspiring, as if guided by a belief that populating the movie with oddballs (in true Wes Anderson hollowness) and quirking up the ante will suffice to keep the audience intrigued for two hours. The characters themselves are uninspiring, once the novelty of their wackiness wears off becoming a group of doubly faceless individual (neither truly the personas they attempt to recreate nor fleshed out individuals behind the mask).

The grading for Corine is somewhat generous given my issues with his efforts, much owed to the admiration of topics touched as well as some utterly magnificent scenes. To some extent the flying-nuns storyline offers just compensation for the ramblings on in other sequences. A well toned, beautifully portrayed effort with a grim overtone, featuring an unbelievable entry scene, where Werner Herzog donned as a priest confronts a man over his unfaithfulness. Apparently a true event it transcends the overall value of the movie, however capturing an unmistakable feel of Herzog's documentary endeavours and strictly pointing in which direction Corine seems intent on heading.

The biggest misstep however is a pretty ridiculous reinvention of Paul Thomas Anderson's "Wise Up" sequence... albeit with a different song and sung by a bunch of talking eggs...