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The Movie: A movie that landed at the Cannes Film Festival with a fairly loud crash, cult writer/director Vincent Gallo's latest picture, "The Brown Bunny", was met with severely harsh reviews - the kind of reviews that are usually reserved for, say, "From Justin to Kelly". Roger Ebert called it the worst screening in the history of the festival. The film provoked further scandal when it was revealed that star/writer/director/etc. gets oral sex on-screen from co-star Chloe Sevigny. The picture was cut by a little under 30 minutes after Cannes, and the result is what was finally released, to not much notice, and what we get here on DVD. The picture is a rambling, somewhat haunting and ultimately plotless road picture, with Gallo starring as motorcycle rider Bud Clay. As the picture opens, we get to see a race that, if not shot in real-time, at least feels like it was. After losing the race, Bud drives and drives and drives, heading across the country in order to meet the girl that's been on his mind all these years - Daisy (Sevigny). Along the way, he flirts with a pretty, young cashier and talks to Daisy's parents, who claim to not remember him, despite the fact that he grew up next door to her. He also flirts with an older woman (Cheryl Tiegs). But, between these stops and a few others, we get long shots of Bud driving...driving...driving..........and more driving, without any dialogue. Some nifty tunes on the soundtrack, though. Gus Van Sant also did a phenomenal film with hardly any dialogue a couple of years ago, called "Gerry". The film starred Matt Damon and Casey Affleck as two men who wandered off the path towards some sort of tourist destination (we're never told) and get lost. They wander, and wander and wander, and yet the film created an incredible atmosphere and boasted some of the most beautiful cinematography I've ever seen - one memorable scene captured the two actors walking across the desert as the sky goes from darkness to first light. The picture managed to be powerful and poetic, showing man's inability to overcome nature and, more specifically, its harshest environments. "Brown Bunny"'s cinematography (also by Gallo) is respectably handled and minimalist, as we watch Gallo drive down the road in an old van with a windshield that has quite a bug collection splattered across it. Despite seemingly having little to say in terms of dialogue or overall themes, the picture does create a rather strong atmosphere and feeling of melancholy. There's also some oddly memorable and yet rather brief sequences, such as the awkwardly quiet meeting between Bud and Daisy's parents. What little dialogue there is doesn't make too much of an impression either way. Aside from those moments though, "Brown Bunny" has moments where it lets the pacing slack and starts to feel dull. Stretches of the movie are definitely on the drawn-out side, and I drifted off into other thoughts (what should I have for dinner passed through my mind) during a few of the driving stretches. Gallo was obviously going for a feature looking at isolation, grief and lost love and while his performance generally adequately portrayed these themes, the movie is simply a bit too drawn out to focus on them strongly enough. The movie had nearly 30 minutes taken out, had another good 10-15 minutes been taken out - in other words, a good chunk of driving, and maybe a few other tidbits - the film's pace and impact would have been improved. It's definitely a polarizing film and I don't think it's one that's without some positives. I've sat and thought about the feature a bit and liked aspects of it more as it's rolled around in my mind, but I still don't feel as if it's an entirely successful experimental feature. The DVD VIDEO: "Brown Bunny" is presented by Sony Pictures Home Video in 1.66:1 anamorphic widescreen on this Superbit edition. The presentation of the 16mm material is largely good, as the image remains about as sharp as it can get. Some moments are purposefully in soft focus, but they look crisply presented on this release. The presentation does show a couple of specks on the print used, but aside from that, it looked crisp and clean, with no pixelation, edge enhancement, shimmer or other issues. The film's naturalistic color palette appeared accurately rendered, with no smearing or other faults. SOUND: "Brown Bunny" is presented in Dolby Digital and DTS 5.0 on this DVD edition. The audio presentation is fairly basic, but not without some minor instances of surround use. Music sounded crisply recorded and fine, but dialogue could sound rather low and required a bit of a boost in volume during the few dialogue exchanges in the picture. EXTRAS: Despite the fact that Superbit titles often reserve 100% of the disc space for the audio/video, there are a couple of trailers for the movie. Final Thoughts: I didn't think it was entirely successful, but Gallo's "Brown Bunny" manages some mildly haunting moments, and Gallo's performance does have its moments when his character isn't spending looong minutes driving. The DVD release offers fine audio/video quality and nothing much in the way of supplements. Fans will appreciate the presentation quality here, but those who haven't seen the picture and are interested should rent first. 
Film Grade The Film C DVD Grades Video 88/B Audio: 85/B Extras: 69/D+ |