Julien Donkey-Boy

I wasn't sure how this film was going to appear when I finally saw it. I felt "gummo" was a great film, and didn't see exactly how this was going to compare. "Julien" actually seemed to surpass in reality. It was in no way a mainstream film, but on the other hand, it was not too "artsy" to be understandable. It kept my attention the entire time. I was intrigued not only by the film techniques but by the story it told. The characters were outstanding considering nothing was scripted. I thought the end of the film was very offensive when watching it, but thinking back on it now, it was handled very well and the movie was telling a story. All actors were very believable, and Svengy did a magnificent job. I think my favorite part in the film was the scene in the thrift store. I was also very happy to notice Will Oldham in the party scene and then see a thank you to him in the credits. If "gummo" intrigued you, this film will also.

Much is made of the fact that this is the first American film to be certified by the strictly realist Danish Dogma group. But unlike Celebration or Breaking the Waves, this film is a mess. It centers on a schizophrenic young man in Queens. The movie consists of disjointed scenes. Eventually, a plot develops when Julien's pregnant sister played by Chloe Sevigny has a miscarriage, and Julien steals the dead baby from the hospital, takes it home, and loves it. Until those scenes, the movie just goes from one place to another, occasionally engendering giggles, but not providing anything to grab hold of. Ewen Bremner, memorable in Mojo, gets totally under the skin of Julien, but total immersion by an actor in the role of a disconnected person does not make for a watchable movie.

Let me tell you a little about art. Art tells you about yourself. When you react negatively and declare that a movie is garbage this says something about your aesthetics. It is one of the grandest illusions there ever was to blame someone or something else for your own reaction. That is what hell is: you torturing yourself. The intention of the artist is so often attacked, as if the man really just picked up a piece of trash and called it 'art'. Art is not a conscious conclusion. And if it is your interpretation that it is a piece of trash labeled 'art', then you must think art is exactly what it is not, a cold rational fact. As if it were a crime to find beauty in anything and everything there is. And as if there should be a rational reason for it to be such. Give yourself a break and allow yourself to experience something other than your cold hard rationality. Reason is predictable. The fun of the game is that don't know the outcome.

Much like European directors Thomas Vinterberg, Lars Von Trier, Jean Luc Goddard, and Werner Herzog (who plays the father!), young American director Harmony Korine is not content to just produce a product. This is film as art. This is film as statement. This is film as reality. It is not escapism-quite the contrary; "Julien" offers nothing in the way of fantasy (other than it's a 'film' and therefore not 'real'). Rather, it injects the viewer into the nervous system of an American most would pretend doesn't exist. It follows a moment in time for Julien, a mentally deranged young man, and his family as they trudge through their mundane, yet disturbed lives. Opening with Julien apparently murdering a young boy in the woods, the viewer is immediately tuned in to just how disturbed he is. From here, the film gives a 'fly on the wall' view of his family; an exasperated father (Herzog), abusive out of his own failures-both personal and familial. A classically driven brother who, through amatuer wrestling, tries to impress daddy-to no avail. Rounding the unit out is his sister (Chloe Sevigny), a ray of light (albeit tainted) within the molassas thick dispair. As the film progresses, we get bits and pieces of a family in sharp decline; the madness isn't all Juliens' that's for sure. Information is given in fits and starts, like bad dreams in still shots. Being a so called 'Dogme' film, "Julien Donkey Boy" has a voyueristic bent, akin to watching a home movie you found on the street. This feeling is only heightened by the seemingly improvised acting (I say 'seemingly' because it can't be ALL impov; forget what you've heard "Julien" DOES have a plot, just not a conventional one). Obviously, "Julien Donkey Boy" is not for everybody, just as "Fitzcarraldo" is not for everyone. I personally found this film compelling. This is the way some people actually live- someone you know, maybe even yourself, and that's why this film works. If I have any criticism, it's not of "Julien" per se, but the fact that all of Korine's films have dealt with teenagers, therefore probably making it easier for some to dismiss his work as merely 'fringe'.

Do not expect to be entertained, and do not expect to be overwhelmed by the aesthetic of this film. Julien Donkey Boy is no more beautiful than its subject. Harmony Korine, in directing and writing this film, has done exactly what he set out to do - he has created a concentrated dose of family life with schizophrenia. In saying that the experience is concentrated, what I mean is that the film uses exaggeration rather liberally in order to condense its somewhat impossibly defined subject matter. Although there are certainly interwoven story arcs for the main characters, there is no central plot, no linearity, no unfragmented reality. The film itself, therefore, is just a little unhinged.

One of my older sisters was schizophrenic. You would have to condense a couple decades worth of her psychotic episodes into a couple of hours to get anywhere near the level of constant distress that is depicted in this film. I most closely related to the character of Pearl, Julien's pregnant sister, but recognized aspects of my own family in all of the characters. What I am trying to say is that there is certainly some truth to what this movie says and the archetypal characters portrayed, its truth may be hard to recognize if you haven't lived through it.

Living with a schizophrenic will bring out and amplify your own nature - and if you are open to it, you will be a better person. It is also, however, fairly easy to allow the experience to overwhelm you. People who have never been exposed to schizophrenia in any but a superficial way will find most of the film's characters and vignettes very difficult to believe. I am pretty sure Korine knew this going in.

Korine has portrayed schizophrenia in a sensitive and truthful, but nevertheless utterly disturbing and somewhat unrealistically condensed way. Every directorial decision is meant to create a sense of realism. The method is very effective, and the film is essentially successful. Julien intentionally and clearly positions its audience as voyeurs, using hand-held photography almost exclusively and allowing character- development (the bulk of the film) to dictate the pace and rhythm of every scene. All of the acting is superb, and although there are very few feel-good moments in this film, it may be somewhat cathartic for folks like me, and somewhat (painfully) enlightening for those who grew up in less dysfunctional, or more-traditionally dysfunctional, families.