Julien Donkey-Boy

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🎙️ EPISODE 441: 04.08.22 W冢h †hê VïÐêð Vêr§ïðñ BELOW The one thing to know about the film movement Dogme 95, perhaps, of which Harmony Korine's second directorial effort Julien Donkey-Boy is among the 35 features 'officially' listed as part of it between 1995-2004 (it's #6 and there's an onscreen certificate to prove it!), is that it's completely bullshit. This movie breaks at least half of the manifesto's ten rules but it doesn't matter. It's about aesthetics; it's only ever been about aesthetics. This is what a film is first and foremost, and this feels very much apart of what the authors of said dogma intended. Rules are, as it were, made to be broken.

The success of this film — and I found it be successful — hinges almost entirely on its terrific performances, but most notably that of the titular Julien, by Scottish actor Ewen Bremner. Bremner is the kind of talented actor one might mistake for a one-hit wonder as his role of "Spud" in Trainspotting is so well-known and notorious. But he's great and has popped up in supporting roles all over the place these past twenty years, from war epics Pearl Harbor and Black Hawk Down to a small but nuanced role in Kelly Reichardt's small and nuanced First Cow. Truth be told, I didn't even recognize him at first. I thought the actor was an actual special needs individual who just LOOKED LIKE "Spud" from Trainspotting; as that's not a casting decision I would put past Harmony Korine. It's a performance — in the great I Am Sam/Tropic Thunder/Digging to China tradition — which toes a certain line between good taste and something else entirely. I choose not to wade into those waters. Be gone now if you feel otherwise (but know still: I would never betray you).

The cosmic alternative, the polar opposite force to this portrayal of a true human affliction is none other than Werner Herzog in the role of Julien's father, an unhinged but lovable maniac. (I am toying with the idea of making a supercut with just Herzog's scenes as I feel like there's a story all to its own in these moments.) It's a beautiful chaos that never becomes self-parody because Herzog's genius instincts reel it in.

I think this movie (and all of Korine's movies in a way) works best if you let it wash over you. Maybe the best thing about this 'type' of film, if indeed this is of a type, is that you can simultaneously turn your brain off while, also , somehow, against all conceivable odds, become deeply enthralled in a web of meaning, both intended and probably not at all. The concept of wrestling (the sport) comes up quite a bit here, and I couldn't help but think of that as a metaphor for the film and how we see the film. It's a kind of wrestling match in your mind, watching a Harmony Korine movie. It's at once a film where nothing seems to happen but yet also where – MAJOR SPOILERS – a mentally challenged young man asks to hold the dead (stillborn) baby of his sister, whom he is maybe the father of, and then proceeds to kidnap the fetus and hop onto a bus. There are these immense, swirling ideas about life and death, living and dying, which led me to scribble in my cryptic notes: "The circle of the mother is the sister is the baby is the son is the..." I do not know what that's supposed to mean. And I don't especially care.

I didn't put much thought into my decision to watch Korine's six films in reverse chronological order (I just like to mix things up!), but after completing the body of work, I think it might be best possible way to see them. I feel like I was able to truly see what makes them great. Like digging out the seeds of a piece of fruit. I'll go into more detail about why and what this is in my review of his first film, Gummo, in a forthcoming edition of this MovieJeff.com Special Mini-Series™.

ｐａｒｔ ｏｆ ｔｈｅ ＲＡＮＫＩＮＧ • ＨＡＲＭＯＮＹ • ＫＯＲＩＮＥ ｓｅｒｉｅｓ

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 440B - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 441B ⫸

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Julien Donkey-Boy is a 1999 American drama film written and directed by Harmony Korine. The story concentrates on Julien, a man with schizophrenia, played by Scottish actor Ewen Bremner, and his dysfunctional family. The film also stars Chloë Sevigny as Julien's sister, Pearl, and Werner Herzog as his father. Julien Donkey-Boy was the sixth film to be made under the self-imposed rules of the Dogme 95 manifesto, and the first non-European film to be made under the Dogme 95 "vow of chastity". It was released on October 15, 1999.