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The Brown Bunny
Almost half an hour shorter than the version that outraged audiences at Cannes, Vincent Gallo's one-man show is now being released in the U.S. Gallo is the writer, director, producer, editor and star, and he also did much of the 16mm camerawork. If anything qualifies as an auteur's creation, this is it.
I can see why the longer version drove viewers over the edge, because the 92-minute edit that Gallo is releasing here constantly teeters on the brink of boring its audience into revolt. Every shot is held longer than almost anyone else would hold it, and even though the shots are exquisitely composed (at times the film suggests a picture book of artsy stills), Gallo stubbornly refuses to provide anything resembling a conventional plot.
Which isn't to say that he fails to provide the audience with information. As we follow his character, Bud, a motorcycle racer, on a bizarre and mostly solitary trip across the country, we learn a great deal about him. We see him engaged in almost wordless flirtation with a series of women, all of whom have names representing flowers. We watch him make a laconic visit to the parents of his girlfriend, Daisy (Chloe Sevigny) -- it's a scene that would fit comfortably in a David Lynch film -- and finally we see his reunion with Daisy. (And yes, the oral sex scene is graphic, but no more so than what routinely shows up in my junk folder in Hotmail.) By the end, you realize that Gallo has managed to convey a dramatic (even melodramatic) story, but you can't see it until you reach the end.
Is it self-indulgent? Sure. Is it interesting to watch? I thought so. Is it a good film? It might well be, but I can't say for certain until I see it again. It almost demands a second viewing, for reasons which will be obvious to anyone who watches it.
M.
"Most people never have to face the fact that, at the right time and the right place, they're capable of anything." -- Chinatown
"What kind of movies would there be if everyone in them had to do what we thought they should do?" -- Roger Ebert
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