In Mister Lonely (dir. Harmony Korine), a lookalike Michael Jackson (Diego Luna) by chance meets a lookalike Marilyn Monroe (Samantha Morton) in Paris, who takes him to stay in a commune for lookalikes in the Scottish Highlands, where they can all live in comfort and happiness and be lookalikes away from the mockery of mainstream society. Meanwhile, in a separate narrative strand, Werner Herzog (the one, the only Werner Herzog) plays a priest piloting a plane full of skydiving nuns across the jungles of Panama.
Having considered this synopsis of Mister Lonely, if you think you'll hate it, chances are you will hate it. If, like I was, you're amused and intrigued, and you have some degree of tolerance for wankiness (sometimes an inevitable companion to those other "w"s, weird and wonderful), then go see it. It's certainly unique, and while it brought to my mind Lars von Trier's The Idiots (lonely innocent seeks sanctuary in a commune full of performing weirdos), and Michel Gondhry's Be Kind Rewind (impersonation of cinematic performances as folk culture), the fact that those two films are so different from each other gives some indication that these similarities are only partial.
If you fill a castle in the Scottish Highlands with lookalikes of the Pope, the Queen, Madonna, the Three Stooges, Sammy Davis Junior, Abraham Lincoln, Charlie Chaplin, etc, etc, alongside the aforementioned Michael Jackson and Marilyn Monroe, obviously there is scope for lots of bizarre, funny, surreal images, and in this respect the film does deliver (Marilyn and Michael rowing across a loch, Abe Lincoln and the Three Stooges slaughtering sheep). As for skydiving nuns - well that's cool to look at alright too. Korine got a good cinematographer on board and he has a knack for marrying haunting, plaintive music up with wondrous visuals. He's also quite deft at using kitschy, pithy, cliched devices and dialogue in a manner that makes them oddly profound and moving (I don't want to spoil any surprises but let's just say look out for the bit with the eggs. Or the bit with the sun). What's pleasantly surprising is that these moments have a reassuringly conventional narrative to cling to - basically "Michael Jackson" goes on a journey of personal discovery. Stuff happens to him, and... he learns from it. Maybe that's why some Korine fans hate this film (according to the review in Sight and Sound anyway) - it's practically a feelgood movie.
Can a film be wondrous and wanky at the same time? Well, you could argue that there's not much point to the parallel unrelated bit with Werner H and the plane full of nuns, but who cares when it's the weirdly accented Werner doing his Werner thang? For me anyway, the prospect of this, quite apart from watching a bunch of lookalikes was the deciding factor as to whether it was worth checking out. And if you've seen him in Julien Donkey-Boy or Grizzly Man you'll know what I mean.
Still want to see it? Then do.
1 comment:
For me perhaps the most enduring and defining sequence from Mister Lonely was the slow-mo opening sequence with the be-masked Michael Jackson careening around a go kart track with a chimpanzee doll representing Bubbles (with wings - an angel?) attached to the side of his vehicle to the tune of Bobby Vinton's 1964 recording of Mr Lonely. At once bizarre, kitsch and oddly touching - it's not easy being an impersonator in Korine's world...
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