MISTER LONELY
Electric
Sheep Magazine
It has been eight years
since Harmony Korine’s last film, the Dogme-inspired Julien
Donkey-Boy. In that time, the one-time wunderkind of
American experimental cinema has written a couple of books,
directed a few music videos and a documentary, suffered one or
two nervous breakdowns and struggled to write, finance and shoot
this, his third film as a director. But the wait has been worth
it: Mister Lonely is a revelation, alive with genuine
passion and wonderment, hysterical, tragic and deeply moving.
A brief synopsis can never
do the film justice: Diego Luna plays a Michael Jackson
impersonator living and working in Paris, consumed by his role
and eking out a meagre living through street shows and old folks
homes. He meets Samantha Morton’s Marilyn Monroe, who invites
him to join a commune of like-minded souls in a remote castle in
the Scottish Highlands. But as Michael and Marilyn’s friendship
blossoms, trouble arises in the shape of her husband Charlie
Chaplin, whose jealousy and erratic behavior are more
reminiscent of that other mustachioed 1930s joker…
Mister Lonely is
clearly the work of a man clawing his way out of a long
darkness: the film is about acceptance and rebirth, the need to
find kinship amid the confusion of modern living. Michael is, as
the title suggests, completely cut off, the focus of attention
but always for his appearance, his mannerisms, never his true
personality, if such a thing
even exists. But in this community of his peers – which include Madonna,
James Dean, Little Red Riding Hood and the extraordinary double
act of James Fox as the Pope and Anita Pallenberg as the Queen –
he finally finds somewhere he can call home.
The comic possibilities
inherent in the set-up are explored to full effect, as Sammy
Davis Jr. throws shapes on the parapets, or Abraham Lincoln
drives a mini-tractor through the sheep paddock, screaming
obscenities at the Three Stooges. But there’s so much more to
Korine’s script than mere kitsch: these are rounded, fascinating
characters, and each gets their moment to shine. Every one of
the actors seems completely absorbed in their role – during
shooting Korine and his cast lived together at the location, and
you can feel the camaraderie.
What’s initially
perplexing about the film is a seemingly unconnected second
narrative which occasionally interrupts the main story: in
Panama, Werner Herzog’s priest is flying relief missions when a
nun accidentally falls from the plane. But as each tale unfolds
the parallels become, if not clear, then understandable – both
stories are about isolated characters on the verge of wondrous
discoveries, both deal in matters of faith and self-worth, and
if the links between them aren’t entirely justifiable, each is
so rewarding in its own right that to complain would seem
churlish.
Perhaps the only sour note
the film strikes is in the way each narrative strand concludes,
for here Korine the wide-eyed innocent is replaced by the
familiar disillusioned art-cynic, and although the effect is
undeniably powerful one wonders if a little faith wouldn’t have
benefited the director as much as his characters. But this is a
minor gripe – overall, Mister Lonely is something of a
masterpiece, rich with emotion and character depth, and
consistently surprising in all the right ways.
Tom Huddleston
The story of a lonely Michael Jackson
impersonator who finds a fleeting tenderness with a Marilyn
Monroe impersonator seems to bring out the lighter side of the
erstwhile enfant terrible and possesses reserves of offbeat,
goofball charm. Charm can only take you so far, however, and by
the halfway point it becomes obvious that the film has little
else to offer. The mixture of the eccentric and the grotesque
grows increasingly tiresome. An acquired taste that may acquire
a cult following, it has little to tempt a mainstream audience
and commercial prospects are severely limited. 