MISTER LONELY
UK/France, 2007, 105 minutes, Colour.
Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, Denis Lavant, James Fox, Leos Carax.
Directed by Harmony Korine.
In the mid-1990s, Harmony Korine was something of an enfant terrible of cinema. He gained notoriety as the writer of Larry Clark’s controversial story of the sexual and drug behaviour of New York teenagers in Kids. He followed up with a strange film, Gummo, and then made julien, donkey boy, both of which were bleak in outlook. Then only a TV special and a music video for some years.
Now, moving away from the grim realism and the use of dogme techniques of film-making, he has moved into the world of whimsy and fantasy – but it is his characters who live in a whimsical world of their own making who catch our attention. In a gentle but telling spoof of how fans emulate celebrities, the characters here become their chosen show business or historical celebrity and form a commune in Scotland. This could be idyllic, but nowhere in the world can the dream idyll be lived. If not difficulties amongst themselves, there is the clash with the people who do not understand, who feel threatened and who attack.
At the centre is Diego Luna as a Michael Jackson lookalike who encounters a Marilyn Monroe (Samantha Morton). It is she who invites him to the commune where she lives with a Charlie Chaplin (Denis Lavant) and her daughter who is a Shirley Temple. Other members include James Fox as the Pope and Anita Pallenberg as the Queen of England. There are funny moments, sad moments and some moments which may strike realists as too fey.
But, there is another narrative in the background concerning the nuns who looked after the hero when he was a boy. It concerns missions of charity, a dedicated priest (played by director Werner Herzog who had appeared in julien donkey boy) and miracles. This part of the film (including the Virgin Mary habits of the nuns and a final accident) is definitely not realistic.
Pleasant and accessible – despite the vagaries of fantasy and imagination.
1.Harmony Korine and his career? His pessimism in his films in his twenties? A move to hope in his thirties? From pessimistic realism to fantasy, however, passing?
2.The French settings, the city of Paris, the streets, the French countryside and mountains, the world of the commune? The contrast with the Latin American settings, the tropics, the sea, the villages?
3.The musical score, the range of songs? ‘You Have a Friend in Jesus’, ‘Dancing Cheek to Cheek’, ‘Hangman’ …?
4.The impact of the opening, the song of ‘Mister Lonely’ by Bobby Vinton? Michael on the bike, the monkey trailing, slow motion?
5.The contrast with the nuns, their habit looking like statues of the Blessed Virgin Mary? Michael’s birth, the nuns tending him, kiss, his having to fend for himself, becoming Michael Jackson, acting in the streets in Paris, all Michael Jackson’s moves, look? Busking in the streets? His discussions with Renard and advice from him? Going to the home for the elderly, his charm with the elderly people, getting them to join in the singing? Talk of hope? His meeting Marilyn Monroe, talking, in the street, her offer to him to come to the commune?
6.Marilyn Monroe and her story, American, acting, meeting Charlie Chaplin, their child, her becoming Shirley Temple? Persuading Michael to come? His packing, the personal farewell to his room? The sadness when he came back to it later? The arrival at the commune, the welcome?
7.The issue of impersonation, personal identity, identifying with celebrities, the joy of their lives, the perceptions of their lives, offering this to people?
8.The introduction to each of the characters, close-up, their comment: Charlie Chaplin, Shirley Temple, Red Riding Hood, Madonna, Abraham Lincoln, the queen, the pope, James Dean, Sammy Davis Jr, Buckwheat, the Three Stooges?
9.Their acting, their personal styles, appearance? The life together in the commune, the meals, the toast – and drinking? Tending the sheep, the many scenes of the sheep, the news that they had to be killed, Abraham Lincoln, the tractor, his getting the phone message, the Three Stooges and their having to kill the sheep? The effect on each?
10.Deciding to put on the show, the preparation, the Stooges and their building the stage, Red Riding Hood upset with the mayhem, the rehearsals, discussion in which order they should appear? The pope blessing the theatre? The queen launching it?
11.Chaplin and Marilyn Monroe, the relationship, tensions, the clash, their love, their child, the sunbaking - and Chaplin letting Marilyn Monroe burn? Her non-comprehension? Everybody looking after her? Her performance, the death, the grief?
12.The show, the small audience, the exhilaration of them all performing ‘Dancing Cheek to Cheek’, the disappointment, the impact of Marilyn’s death?
13.Michael, the impact of the death, his seeing the faces of each of the characters, the singing of the song, his talking to Marilyn, her explaining why she died, her destiny, urging him to live and follow his? His going to Renard, his changing, going to the bus, alone? But temporary? The philosophy of giving love and joy to one another?
14.The priest, supplies, the talk with Eugenio, his wife leaving him, his infidelity, urging him to confess, giving him the blessing and absolution? A genial priest? The supplies for the village? Flying?
15.The nuns, their work, joy, play, smoking? Going on the plane, the drops of the supplies? The nun falling, her prayer, faith, landing unharmed? Talking to the other nuns, getting them to free-fall, testing their faith? Their free-falling, skydiving? Seen as a miracle? The comment on miracles and people’s perception? The decision to fly to Rome, to meet the pope, the priest to have a beer with his Bavarian friend?
16.The irony of the crash, the bodies in the sea, temporary happiness?
17.The ambiguities of the film, the positive outlook on human nature, life, joy and grief?
