Mister Lonely (2007)

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

Director:

Harmony Korine

Writers:

Harmony Korine, Avi Korine

Stars:

Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, Denis Lavant

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
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 Junior
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

Storyline

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

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Plot Keywords:

mexican actor playing american character | commune | impersonation | eccentricity | michael jackson impersonation | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

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.

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Goofs

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

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Quotes

Buckwheat: I love women, they're hot, they make me sweat. I love chickens.I love their wings, like breasts. If you combine chicken with a woman's breasts, you get chicken breasts. I like chicken breast, chicken breast is nice and hot! If it was up to me, I'd make the world naked woman and naked chickens. That's hot, yeah!

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Connections

Featured in Brows Held High: Mister Lonely (2013)

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Soundtracks

The Maid Freed from the Gallows
Performed by John Jacob Niles
(p) 1940 Sony BMG Music Entertainment Inc
Licensed courtesy of Sony BMG Commercial Markets (UK)
Written by John Jacob Niles
Published by G. Schirmer Inc.

User Reviews

Korine Pursues the Elusiveness of Identity But Falls Short Despite Morton's Heartfelt Marilyn

There is a certain idiosyncratic appeal to this small 2008 piece of strange whimsy thanks to Harmony Korine's ("Gummo") wholly individualistic film-making style. Co-written with his brother Avi, he has created an admittedly weird if visually arresting film that opens with a slow-motion shot of a man in a Michael Jackson outfit, complete with white mask, riding a bicycle with a stuffed monkey attached by a wire flying in the tailwind. This is all accompanied by Bobby Vinton's 1964 falsetto-tinged pop hit, which shares the film's title. However, the movie itself is hamstrung by a disjointed narrative, thinly developed characters, and lethargic pacing that makes the film seem much longer than its 112-minute running time. That's too bad because Korine explores the fallacies of identity with a surprising dexterity. It's just that he can't consistently maintain the uniqueness of his story concept beyond the original set-up.

The protagonist is indeed a Michael Jackson impersonator who performs for change on the streets of Paris. Actually a reticent Mexican expatriate who paints faces on eggs to pass the time in his room, he gets excited when asked to entertain at a rest home. There he meets a kindred spirit in a curvaceous Marilyn Monroe impersonator, who promptly invites him to a castle and farm commune in the Scottish Highlands inhabited by a motley crew of fellow celebrity impersonators. We meet Marilyn's husband, a Charlie Chaplin impersonator, and their moppet daughter, who pretends to be Shirley Temple. Surprisingly, just when you expect Korine to take us on a flight of random fancy, the story takes a more predictable turn into a love triangle of sorts and moves slowly toward a downbeat resolution. In a completely separate storyline, a group of nuns in a Latin American village are given a sense of eternal purpose when one accidentally falls out of a plane and miraculously survives. Korine doesn't bother to show us how one storyline relates to the other, nor does he explain why the diverse array of impersonators would congregate in such an isolated spot. Priority is placed on presenting these strange tableaux rather than building narrative coherence.

The resulting emotional disconnect from the characters makes the cast work that much harder to maintain our interest. At minimum, the principals give sympathetic portrayals despite the challenges. Diego Luna (Tenoch in "Y Tu Mama Tambien") does a dynamite impression of Jackson's 80's-era dance moves and even more, captures the innate diffidence of the eccentric superstar's offstage behavior. But it's the chameleonic Samantha Morton ("In America"), sporting a convincing American accent, who brings heart and vulnerability to her breathy faux-Marilyn. In the other story, renowned German director Werner Herzog ("Fitzcarraldo") seems to be improvising as he plays the priest who wrangles the nuns into their higher calling. Except for Denis Lavant's desultory turn as Chaplin, the rest of the cast fails to make much of an impression beyond their various guises. I just wish the audacity of Korine's venture could have been matched by a gift for storytelling.

Details

Country:

UK France Ireland USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

14 March 2008 (UK)

Also Known As:

Mister Lonely

Filming Locations:

Bocas del Toro, Panama

Box Office

Budget:

$9,500,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$16,769, 4 May 2008

Gross USA:

$167,396

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$407,674

Company Credits

Production Co:

Love Streams Productions, O' Salvation, Recorded Picture Company (RPC)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

112 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1