A Haunting Depiction of Love Lost That Nearly Loses the Audience
Bud Clay is a very disturbed individual. He races his motorcycle, comes onto women just to dump them, and has haunting memories of his one true love, Daisy. This is a road-movie, and Bud is on a journey. He is going to California to see his ex-girlfriend, yet once he gets there, we realize his journey is not what we thought.
The Brown Bunny, Vincent Gallo’s second feature film, is a haunting depiction of love lost. It’s also a drudging, grueling journey that nearly loses the audience. There’s not much to Bud, and we later find out why. He’s an outcast, and has a tendency to treat women like objects, even in his memories or fantasies of his one true love.
This is one of those films where the ending will “blow” you away. There’s an infamous scene that’s received a lot of press, a certain sexual act is performed by Daisy, his true love. But the most disturbing scene is a flashback after that.
Once again, Chloë Sevigny sure puts herself out there. With this film, she has been raped in two movies now. In her first role in Larry Clark’s Kids, after taking drugs she is raped at a party, very reminiscent of this film.
I admire Gallo for making The Brown Bunny, for making it the way he wanted to, for having an original vision, for producing it and finding financing himself. Most of Hollywood and critics alike have blown him off, calling him narcissistic, and I can understand that.
Vincent Gallo attended what was supposed to be a Q&A session after the opening night showing of his film at the Sunshine Theater here in New York City. Instead of taking questions from the audience and answering them, i.e. Q & A, he decided to talk for 20 minutes, and then show a clip of the Ebert and Roeper show when they panned The Brown Bunny in their Cannes Film Festival review. He talked about how he’s always being wrongly labeled as a narcissist and this film narcissistic, yet he didn’t want any feedback or questions from the audience.
What’s even more ironic is: Gallo criticizes Ebert for labeling his film “the worst in Cannes history,” without giving reasons why he hated so much, yet he is so easily willing to mention how both he and Ebert didn’t like The Village at a drop of a hat, and give no reasons why he didn’t like it.
No matter what you may think, or what I think of Gallo personally, I don’t think it is fair to dismiss his film based on his actions in his personal life. I am always for judging the art, not the artist. If we did the latter, we would have to dismiss every Woody Allen and Roman Polanski film based on their character or previous life choices they made.
The Brown Bunny haunted me for days after I saw it. While the road trip to California does take too long and there a few too many scenes of self-indulgent nothingness—long scenes of just a road, the side of Bud’s face—The Brown Bunny is a very artistic independent film that has vision. It tells the story of a very haunted and disturbed individual, who has regrets that have crippled his life.
Alternative Recommendations: The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Easy Rider, Buffalo ’66, Kids, Boys Don’t Cry
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Fidelio’s Film Central:
http://www.geocities.com/fidelio1st/film.htm
LATEST REVIEWS
The Brown Bunny [ B ]
We Don't Live Here Anymore [D+]
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow [A-]
Shopgirl [B+]
Garden State [C+]
ARTICLE on Carlito's Way Prequelitis (Yes that's right, a prequel is in the works)
“We're about to make film history, right here on videotape.”—Jack Horner, Boogie Nights
Bud Clay is a very disturbed individual. He races his motorcycle, comes onto women just to dump them, and has haunting memories of his one true love, Daisy. This is a road-movie, and Bud is on a journey. He is going to California to see his ex-girlfriend, yet once he gets there, we realize his journey is not what we thought.
The Brown Bunny, Vincent Gallo’s second feature film, is a haunting depiction of love lost. It’s also a drudging, grueling journey that nearly loses the audience. There’s not much to Bud, and we later find out why. He’s an outcast, and has a tendency to treat women like objects, even in his memories or fantasies of his one true love.
This is one of those films where the ending will “blow” you away. There’s an infamous scene that’s received a lot of press, a certain sexual act is performed by Daisy, his true love. But the most disturbing scene is a flashback after that.
Once again, Chloë Sevigny sure puts herself out there. With this film, she has been raped in two movies now. In her first role in Larry Clark’s Kids, after taking drugs she is raped at a party, very reminiscent of this film.
I admire Gallo for making The Brown Bunny, for making it the way he wanted to, for having an original vision, for producing it and finding financing himself. Most of Hollywood and critics alike have blown him off, calling him narcissistic, and I can understand that.
Vincent Gallo attended what was supposed to be a Q&A session after the opening night showing of his film at the Sunshine Theater here in New York City. Instead of taking questions from the audience and answering them, i.e. Q & A, he decided to talk for 20 minutes, and then show a clip of the Ebert and Roeper show when they panned The Brown Bunny in their Cannes Film Festival review. He talked about how he’s always being wrongly labeled as a narcissist and this film narcissistic, yet he didn’t want any feedback or questions from the audience.
What’s even more ironic is: Gallo criticizes Ebert for labeling his film “the worst in Cannes history,” without giving reasons why he hated so much, yet he is so easily willing to mention how both he and Ebert didn’t like The Village at a drop of a hat, and give no reasons why he didn’t like it.
No matter what you may think, or what I think of Gallo personally, I don’t think it is fair to dismiss his film based on his actions in his personal life. I am always for judging the art, not the artist. If we did the latter, we would have to dismiss every Woody Allen and Roman Polanski film based on their character or previous life choices they made.
The Brown Bunny haunted me for days after I saw it. While the road trip to California does take too long and there a few too many scenes of self-indulgent nothingness—long scenes of just a road, the side of Bud’s face—The Brown Bunny is a very artistic independent film that has vision. It tells the story of a very haunted and disturbed individual, who has regrets that have crippled his life.
Alternative Recommendations: The Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Easy Rider, Buffalo ’66, Kids, Boys Don’t Cry
----------------
Fidelio’s Film Central:
http://www.geocities.com/fidelio1st/film.htm
LATEST REVIEWS
The Brown Bunny [ B ]
We Don't Live Here Anymore [D+]
Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow [A-]
Shopgirl [B+]
Garden State [C+]
ARTICLE on Carlito's Way Prequelitis (Yes that's right, a prequel is in the works)
“We're about to make film history, right here on videotape.”—Jack Horner, Boogie Nights
