CommentsXp Best movie ever!

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Stephanie There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Guillelmina The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Indie_Locker Harmony Korine is no ordinary filmmaker. If you've seen any of his films, you would know that. This is his second feature following Gummo (1997) and Harmony continues to bring a group of underprivileged and disturbed characters to the screen. He has an apparent fascination with the part of society that we tend to not think about or simply forget. In Julien Donkey-Boy, the film follows a schizophrenic teenager and his family, and it all takes place within a day or two. Those of you who are familiar with Korine's work know that its not about the plot, so don't worry about where the story goes or how it ends. Worry only about what you're viewing, scene by scene, and how it makes you feel.The film is impressively shot and edited. Korine had a specific vision with his film and utilized his technique in creating a distorted and fragmented feature, which we can't help but wonder must resemble the thought process of its main character, Julien (Ewen Bremner). Bremner has transformed himself and creates a fully fleshed out character, even in quiet moments when he's bonding with friends or in the disturbing confines of his household when he succumbs to the voices in his head. He's sensitive but quite damaged and Bremner does not hold back in being honest and completely dedicated to the character.Julien lives at home with his pregnant sister (Chloe Sevigny), his tough father (Werner Herzog) and his little brother (Evan Neumann). The sister is perhaps the purest character in the film, and certain shots linger on her which makes us speculate that Julien holds her in high regard. She may or may not also be pregnant with his child. She shows nothing but compassion towards everyone she interacts with and even pretends to be her dead mother on the phone with Julien. In a scene where the two are talking on the house phone together, the inner child in Julien is brought out like no other moment we witness and he acknowledges that she's dead, but he talks to her any way. "Remember when Chris was just a little baby and he killed you in the hospital? Remember, Ma?" Its quite effective.Herzog is entertaining as the father of the household (as he usually is, both on and off the screen). His favorite film is Dirty Harry. He loathes how his daughter plays the harp because he hates that artsy crap. He wants Julien to be normal and he always pushes Chris to be better. Chris hates the pressure he's under and though its hardly touched upon, we know that Chris is at the very least depressed and quite frustrated, and he takes it out on Julian after the two try to wrestle. And when Julien can't take it seriously enough, Chris gets angry. "I'm sorry Chris, I didn't wanna hurt you!" Julien shouts as he follows him outside, once again the innocence of a child being brought of him. And Chris yells at him to act normal for just once.There are a handful of powerful scenes and shots that make this film stand out. Korine not only provides us with fascinating and insightful dialog which the actors breath such life and depth into, he also utilizes a brilliant visual technique to both represent the viewpoint of the main character and as a means to tell the story. Julien Donkey-Boy is another masterful outing from Harmony Korine, its filled with enough visuals and scenes to to make it unforgettable. Its honest and unsettling in the best way. Its not here to entertain you or to allow you to 'escape' in the traditional sense. Its raw and disturbing and if you view it as art, it can make you feel something. And that's really what filmmakers like Harmony Korine go for.

Chromium_five I have to give Korine credit for convincing people that he is some sort of genius with his ridiculous movies. I hold nothing against him--by all indications, he is a smart and creative person, as he has consistently dreamed up (or simply assembled) some of the strangest characters and situations you are likely to ever see. Regardless, this movie is unwatchable because looks awful: fuzzy, gray and horribly framed. In many scenes it looks like the camcorder was strapped to the back of a dog that was allowed to run randomly around the room. The explanation is that we're seeing the world through the eyes of a schizophrenic: what kind of an excuse is that? Is the schizophrenic partially blind? The thing is, every effect Korine is going for--trying to visually capture anxiety and confusion--could be done on regular film or higher-quality digital, but BETTER. It is hilarious to hear him talk in the DVD commentary about how his dirt-cheap digital video recorder is a great new artistic medium that needs to be explored (rather than a lower-quality version of a certain technology). I do think Korine's movies are interesting and could even become respectable if he cooled down on the shock for the sake of shock and hired a cinematographer. But this is just bad film-making.High point: Werner Herzog is too funny to believe in this movie, the best part by far.

orionsector This is honestly one of the worst movies I have ever seen.There is really hardly any story to this movie. The movie is like a series of random,depressing,poor quality,psychotic home movies from a family of nut-jobs that you would never show your friends. Most of the characters belong in an institution, however, the younger brother and sister are likable enough. There are some funny moments as others have stated, like when the whack-job father tells Julien that if "I was as stupid as you I would slap myself in the face".This movie was mostly just a train wreck that I only finished just to see if anything would actually happen. I guess it's one of those "artsy-fartsy" kind of movies, to borrow a phrase from the movie itself.I'm not saying "don't see it", but I do say "don't spend any money to see it".

tonymurphylee As people see things, things see us. This extremely disturbing film about a man/boy with schizophrenia struggling through life with his twisted and mentally abusive dad, his sister who is pregnant with his baby, and his abused brother, is terrifyingly weird. With a film in which a boy is brutally smashed in the head with a stone and choked to death, a nun masturbates on the floor, and a armless man plays the drums, it is completely obvious that this film will only appeal to certain people. This film is freakish, but not in as good a way as GUMMO was. With all this being said, while the film was a hellish and emotional picture that is not for the mainstream(to say the least), I would never ever want to really see it again. This was just too much. It made me feel unclean in a way much deeper tan GUMMO. I felt my mind was permanently warped. I never want to even think about this film ever again. Thinking about it makes me feel nauseous. The images and the characters and the actions of them have gotten to me and Of course, this was probably Harmony Korine's intention. Many viewers won't feel the images they are seeing are necessary to for the to see. It is kind of a freak show in a way. It isn't so much the content that is bad. There are many events in the film that just feel wrong. Take for instance the scene where Julien attempts to sell skating shoes he made. He attempts to sell them to a boy who does not listen to what he has to say about his purportedly useless invention and instead swears and yells at him, telling him in exaggerated form that the shoes will kill people and that he wouldn't pay any money for them. The scene has no purpose other than to seemingly be insulting and depressing to the viewer who has already had their fair share of depressing events throughout the film. And yet it is done in such a way that is very lifelike and very realistic in terms of how the scene is constructed, but it seems so weird to want to film this sort of behavior. It has also been well known that for this film project, Harmony recorded real people's reactions of some of the strange behavior with hidden cameras. This adds genuine realism to the film along with the nasty stuff, as if it didn't have enough. It's a tough film to sit through. I think it's a good film, but I don't recommend it for fear that people will think I'm a sicko for thinking they will like it.