The Planet of Junior Brown

The Planet of Junior Brown is an overlooked gem of a film. I've seen it three times now, and each time it gets better, the sign of a rich cinematic experience.

The first time I saw the film, I was jarred a little by its tone; the meshing of realism and an alternative "reality" of dreams threw me off. On my second viewing of the film, I recognized this "reality" as mytho-poetic, and also recognized myself in the relationship of Junior and his mother, though we are from different cultures, countries, "races" and backgrounds. There is a universality in this movie that comes across nicely due to the mytho-poetic quality of director Clement Virgo's art. It's a quite beautiful and moving little gem of a film, though it is suffused with melancholy due to a certain ambiguity in the ending. (Is Junior imagining what transpires in the final scene; is it a dream? Is Junior delusional? Has he slipped the bonds of his harsh reality and retreated into some secret place inside his head?)

Films are all about dreams, and I didn't really understand or love THE PLANET OF JUNIOR BROWN until I realized that it was created from the stuff of dreams, putting it firmly in the realm of the mytho-poetic.

Watch this film, not once, but twice or more. You will be rewarded.

I stumbled upon Junior Brown while sifting through the channels looking for an interesting movie. I liked the name. It's hard to find movies such as this one on American TV. Description reads something like "Watch a shy, fat, black, piano prodigy kid as he journeys into an imaginary world." It could be either very good, or turn out to be an over-ambitious drama, so I decided to peek at it for 5 minutes to see if it's worth it. I did not expect it, but the I caught on to the film's lonely mood as soon as I turned it on. The film turned out to be much more than what was in the description, and I can say that it must have been written by someone who watched a couple minutes of it and fast forwarded the rest until the end. The film has an easy pace, interesting moments, a humble and beautiful music score, and very colorful characters. Mysteriously emotional and well-spoken, builds on each character, and the drama never becomes overdone. The few subplots are amazing. It easily became one of my all-time favorite movies.

Edit: I learned that the DVD I watched is the edited-for-TV-version, not the original film which is apparently only available on dusty old VHS tapes.

"The Planet of Junior Brown" (a great title which was inexplicably changed to the insipid "Junior's Groove" for DVD release in the USA) is an adaptation of an acclaimed novel which I haven't read. But watching this movie I could tell that there were many subtle & complex themes that only a novel could fully explore.

That's not the problem, since we all know that 90 minute films cannot possibly cover the entire scope of a novel. The problem is that this story, which should really be presented as a dark psychological twister like maybe "The Fisher King" was instead given a very glossy made-for-TV look. As a result, the presentation sometimes feels contradictory to the heavy subject matter. Not a fatal flaw, but one that keeps me from rating this challenging story higher.

The story is about a young boy, Junior, an artistic & musical prodigy, growing up in a broken home under the thumb of his neurotic mother, lending a subtle but unsettling Oedipal spin. Tormented at school for his appearance, he spends his days cutting class with his best friend Buddy who is one of several orphaned youths living under the rule of a frightening gang boss. Buddy has his own demons, but he spends his time looking out for the very vulnerable Junior who wouldn't last 10 minutes on his own. It's almost like an urban "Of Mice and Men" setup with this endearing big-brother relationship they share. But Buddy can't necessarily protect Junior from everything. The story revolves around Junior's escape from harsh reality into his mental fantasy world, a place full of stars, colorful planets, and of course music that only he can hear. There is also a terrifying, shadowy character with Freddy Krueger hands who seems to be always lurking not far away.

There's a lot going on, and I haven't even scratched the surface. You can see how I compare it to the excellent "The Fisher King", a surreal story where Robin Williams plays a homeless man who has delusions of being an urban Robin Hood.

Unfortunately, the CBC made-for-TV approach is far too clean for a story like this. For example, all the profanity is edited out, even though we're led to believe some of these characters are vicious street hoods and murderers. There are strong implications of things like rape and child molestation, but as if it's censored, we can't be sure if it happened. And everyone looks too clean. At least they could've ruffled Sarah Polley's hair and removed her makeup if we're supposed to believe she's a street beggar (and check out those shoes she's wearing, très chic!)

Despite all that nonsense, there are some excellent scenes, very artistic. And if you're looking for a dark urban story without all upsetting violence and language of a Tarantino flick, this fits the bill. I loved the magical scenes where Junior and Buddy learn astronomy while watching a glorious planetarium contraption scrapped together from stolen bits & pieces--I want that thing for my bedroom! These scenes are poetic and visually striking. Some of the indoor sets (in an abandoned church, etc) have a sort of majestic desolation that you wish you could hang on your wall as a painting. And although the acting can be a little melodramatic at times (again, made-for-TV fare), there were a handful of moments when I was really blown away by an actor's delivery.

I can't blame the director Clement Virgo for the film's watered-down presentation. Although I've never seen any of his other films, I can tell just by some of their titles that he's not a man who shies away from in-your-face controversy (his first 3 works are called "A Small Dick Fleshy Ass Thang", "The Split Second a Pullout Technique" and "Save My Lost Nigga Soul"). All of this makes me conclude that "The Planet of Junior Brown" was an unfortunate victim of a compromise between rudely honest art vs. publicly-digestible commercialism. If this had been an indie flick, rather than the highly advertised CBC spectacle that they were pushing, it could've been something truly spectacular. I suspect that the DVD release I got may have been further edited for home viewing. One day I would love to see a director's cut where he pulls no punches and doesn't shy away from the heavy themes we're teased with.

In all, this movie is a worthwhile watch. I'm just frustrated because I can imagine how great "The Planet of Junior Brown" would've been in a parallel universe.

I was pleasantly surprised when I finally stumbled upon the airing of this film on CBC after a relentless and annoying ad campaign than had made my eyes glaze over. Had CBC simply let one scene run in its entirety, it would have represented the film a lot better. Contrasting selected scenes from the film with their samples in the ad would be an education in the power of editing. Scenes, lines and gestures that played corny and over-acted in the ad were properly paced, naturally, in context. My only criticism is that an early scene where Sarah Polley goes along with a video-camera-toting couple gave me a chill I interpreted it as the last we would see of her character. . .because of the Bernardo-Homolka overtones. Then after all the build-up of that little scene, there is no follow-up. The scene might have been intended to imply what COULD HAPPEN on the street, but it felt a little cheap and manipulative, a false scare in an otherwise more organically moving little film. Except for that little tacked-on tangent, and the fact that we share the indignanty of seeing the large lead actor shirtless a couple of times, I think the film is underrated. Nice to see Margot Kidder as a flakey friend, and the supporting cast in general help to buoy the shy fellow whose story is being told. Again, Sarah Polley is especially centered yet oddly authentic as a panhandler. Just make sure you're in the right mood.

Flipping through the cable channels, I came across the rotund visage of one Martin Villafana, dancing around a room in a stilted pirouette and not unlike rubbernecking at a traffic accident, I was compelled to watch. I later watched the film, The Planet of Junior Brown, in its entirety and I wished the rest of the film weren't so beholden in tone and mood to that initial scene I was exposed to. While I admittedly still look forward to read the novel on which this film is based, I have many problems with the piece of celluloid I have before me. Instead of grounding its many dreamlike moments with instances which harken to reality, we're given a film which feels like something remembered, forgotten, or indexed from someone's fevered yet bittersweet memories. Although I empathize with Junior's plight since I am a person with a weight problem, I really think some of the choices the director and scenarist made about this piano virtuoso ultimately betrayed what they were going for. What's left is a promising yet still empty afterschool special.