The Brown Bunny

As in not off. If you want to post about mainstream flicks, this is the forum.

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Remo D
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The Brown Bunny

Post by Remo D »

Well, we've all heard of THIS one, right? If you've followed it past the initial notoriety, you know that this film has been "tightened" by over 20m from the version that practically got hooted off the screen at Cannes. And at the end of the infamous Vincent Gallo/Roger Ebert "feud," Ebert declared the new version to be worthy of three stars... the good movie that wanted to come out of the bad one.

I was all set to deliver one of the most sarcastic things you'd ever seen from me... something along the lines of "If this is the GOOD version, God protect us all from the BAD one!," followed by a really snide description of the film's "action." Oh, and of course I was going to refer to the film as THE BLOWN BUNNY in the header.

Ten percent of the people who see this film in any way, shape or form will watch from the beginning. The remaining ninety percent will rent the DVD and cut straight to the blowjob. I thought I'd play fair and attend the theatrical screening in my area. From the beginning.

And yes, the film plays like a chore for a while. Windshield, windshield, windshield. Women named after flowers that Gallo can't quite bring himself to pick up (and yes, one of them really is Cheryl Tiegs). Sojourns to the pet store. Long conversations with old folks who don't remember him. And this went on twenty ADDITIONAL minutes in the festival print?

Then, finally, we get to the point of the film--and it's NOT the aforementioned blowjob. Oh, it's there, all right, and it's there for a reason... but the point comes AFTER that. And the film really IS about something. And it's pretty damn devastating, too. And I just couldn't come home and cut a smartass promo on THE BROWN BUNNY, after all.

I'll never know if this is truly the best possible cut of the film. Perhaps there was a top-drawer short subject in here. Or maybe it just wouldn't have played the same without the buildup (and nine out of ten viewers will NOT have the patience to put up with this movie for that long). I'll never know, now that I've seen this cut and know where the road leads.

If you wait for the DVD and skip to the last fifteen minutes of the film--well, you'll get your blowjob, but the film itself will never have a chance to work. Try watching it from the beginning and let me know what you think afterwards.
My dog's breath smells like peanut butter...

...and I don't even have a dog!
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ROBERT
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Brown Bunny

Post by ROBERT »

I saw the 90 minute cut last year at The Toronto Film Festival.(with Gallo and Chloe Seivny in attendance) Believe it or not most of the crowd liked it. Myself included. Many considered it a tribute to the 70s American road movie. An existential film about finding oneself. I think it's rep as a really horrible film was unwarranted. The long workprint version supposedly had way to much footage of Gallo washing his van. But for 90 minutes it works well. It's definitely a specialized arthouse film. It probably just won't fly with most U.S audiences.(Gallo admitted to this) People weaned on MTV flash cutting should avoid it like the plague. It's very slow paced and almost dreamlike.But it does have an interesting twist after the infamous blowjob scene at the end, that makes sitting through it once worthwhile.
"I don't want to be called an "artist." "Acting like an "artist" is synonymous to acting like an asshole."

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crustypop
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Post by crustypop »

I would agree that this movie will not have any popularity to anyone who needs their movies to cater to the attention span of a gnat but the reality is even people who consider themselves film critics will find very little here. The movie displays images so dreamlike they would be best left as a photograph not a moving picture, he continues to string them along a thread of a plot. The images some so shocking and so some lucid that its too vaugue to even guess at what Gallo is hoping to instill in his watchers.

I watched this and then went and saw Buffalo 66 at the Egyptian on sat night and realized its not for a lack of talent. Buffalo 66 excels at being dark, beauftiful and filled w/ amazing dialouge. After having a refreshing view of what an amazing film 66 was it only added for my disdain of his new picture. I can only make a mocking comparison to him leaving "Naked Lunch" to have a go at something more "Interzone."
I pull the trigger, God is dead. I live in fear of, myself instead. - Rob W.
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