Cheap Julien Donkey-Boy (DVD) (Harmony Korine) Price

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Customer Reviews of Julien Donkey-Boy

"Don't like the artsy-fartsy"
While not quite the freakshow of "Gummo", "Julien Donkey Boy" is still a difficult watch. While compelled to take in the effects of schizophrenia on your average dysfunctional family, the video effects make ordinary scenes a torture to sit through. There seems to be a need for realism, but these cutaways to other jarring images in slow motion are slightly self-indulgent (Uhh - I believe the whole point of Dogme95 was not to be self-indulgent or what you can do with your cameras slow shutter speed.)
Performances by Ewen Bremmer, Werner Herzog and Chloe Sevigny are worthwhile. The actors improv adds to Korine's trademark neo-documentary style, but there doesn't seem to be much narrative plot they can follow. He also does lapse into his habit of unflinchingly looking at the grotesque, deformed, or freakish - which in this context, could be gratuitous considering the subject matter. His earlier film "Gummo" at least put his desolate subjects more into context.

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Julien Donkey Boy
Although not for everyone, JDB is a true masterpiece in every sense of the word. If the highest goal of art and cinema is to realistically portray human life and emotion, as imperfect and ugly as it can get most of the time, then this movie succeeds on every level. You're literally brought into the mind of a young schizophrenic and his world, and watching this movie is a lot of work like films should be. Who wants to know what line is coming next like in 95% of Hollywood shlock? At the end of it all, you feel like you've just run a marathon although you've never left your couch, an like all of Korine's films, you're left feeling dirty and used. This is good! Emotionally, you can't help but be drawn into this world and feel the insanity and it is very unsettling. Visually, the grainy DV film and hand held camera work all add to the overall emotion and the editing and cinematogrophy are suberb! Really cutting edge stuff from a destructionist standpoint, where polished dialogue, posh sets and Hollywood extravagence are thrown out the window for reality. I've seen many films in my days and this one is groundbreaking in my view and sets the bar higher for other avante-garde filmakers. You owe in to yourself as a member of the human race to check this movie out.

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Harmony Korine is a Wunderkind
I can't believe how young this guy is. He was eighteen when he wrote KIDS. That just blows me away. KIDS is a great film, but it is a Larry Clark film. This is a Harmony Korine film and it is truly something to behold.

I am willing to make the bold statement that Korine is the best American film maker making moivies today. Why? Because his films are so bold. He has faith in his own aesthetic and that gives his work a sincerity, an originality, and a power that most films lack. He has a vision and then he realizes it. This weird little skateboarder is an artist.

This is a movie for the true lover of the medium. If you have to have a linear plot line, pretty characters, or car chases, this movie is not for you. If you like convention, you will not like Harmony's movies. But if you are a fan of honest, iconoclastic art, buy Julien Donkey Boy.

I loved Werner Herzog as the crazy father.