Review of Mister Lonely

While, it might not be the greatest movie of all time and the plot might be so out there that the mass audience wouldn't get or understand it. There is something about this movie; that has me liking it. Mister Lonely is directed and written by Harmonie Korine. It's an underrated yet innovative and creative story coming from the same guy who wrote 1995's 'Kids' script. The guy is very clever and witty in what he does. His other works are variants on this. While Korine's past films have always been about raw ugliness transcending into something beautiful. In my opinion, it's a hit or miss. He is a director to try and make his films overtly experimental and anti-mainstream, that's why I think his experimentation in film fails most of the time. They are so immersed in his own confused ideas that end up just being too pretentious. So I don't find him to be a great filmmaker. I didn't like his other films 2009's Trash Humpers or 1997's Gummo, but this is different from them because it's easier to watch. Mister Lonely is about a young American Michael (Diego Luna) living in Paris, making a living as a Michael Jackson lookalike impersonator. Diego Luna is an incredible Mexican actor with great physical performance, because he's obviously a great dancer. While, I think he's great, I might if a stronger actor had been given this part, it would have a stronger following. By co-incidence, he meets another impersonator named Marilyn Monroe (Samantha Morton) who lives in an imitator commune in Scotland with her French husband Charlie Chaplin (Denis Lavant) and her daughter Shirley Temple (Esme Creed-Miles who in real life is really Samantha Morton's daughter). Samantha Morton is outstanding as Marilyn. I love her response to his question so how long have you been Marilyn and she says since I got my boobs. Very bold answer. it sounds so sexy and different. Others residents include The English Pope (James Fox), Italian Queen of England (Anita Pallenberg), and a James Dean from Wales (James Morgan). Also living there are; Abraham Lincoln (Richard Strange), Madonna (Medita Morgan) and Sammy Davis JR. (Jason Pennycooke). There are numerous other celebs lookalike that even more questionable like fictionist characters such as Red Riding Hood (Harmonie's wife Rachel Korine) and Buckwheat (Michael-Joel David Stuart) that makes you ask, why are they, there? Anyways, all of them are pretty great actors. At the commune, Michael and Marilyn prepare alongside her overzealous husband Charlie and a host of other impersonators for a star-studded stage show that will brighten and astonish their admirers, bringing them great fame. The first 15 minutes were great and then the story between Michael and Marilyn are thrown out the window. What follows is terrible filler scenes where the characters does not really do anything relate to the show. Then the story takes another odd turn, as the drama shifts to the Brazilian forest where a community of missionary nuns bring aid to the locals. While, on the airplane, a Nun fall out, and somehow survives the fall by praying. It was a miracle, and Latin American priest, Father Umbrillo (the legendary Director Werner Herzog) capitalize on it, and sent his missionary of nuns literally soar through the sky in search of their own answers. I like how Harmony Korine combines a skydiving nun on a BMX bike with a super poignant post rock song. I love the sound of the wind in this video as the nun is falling. I do like the movie soundtrack with "My Life" by Iris Dement, "Cheek to Cheek" by Fred Estaire and last Bobby Vinton - Mr. Lonely. I love the whole absurd meets poignant aspect of it. I wish you could find that in more movies! I thought it was hilarious, and poetic visually beautiful. Each frame is like a painting. There are a lot of dumb scenes; that was purposely done that way. A good example is the talking to the eggs scene. It has some clunky bits which feel awkwardly improvised but it was so wonderfully strange and very sad. It still upsets me to see the Three Stooges putting down the infected sheep even though you see nothing, nor need to. The story is funny and heartbreaking at the same time. Only Harmony Korine could weave Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, her daughter Shirley Temple, and flying nuns into a hypnotically funny and truly poignant tale of the instability behind fanaticism and the redemption we can hope to find in one another. I think the title Mr. Lonely doesn't work. I think 'The Impostors' might have been a better title and suited the dual plot line of the celebrity impersonators as well as the nuns who have the idea that they birds and can fly. It about a group of people trying to make a miracle out of their lives. The plot line which works around two seemingly unrelated narrative threads leaves something to be desired, and ends up being a strangely conventional film filled with outcasts in search of love and community. Overall: a good one time watch. It seems like one of those films where if you just go along with the ride even if it's a bit stupid.