Ever wonder what’d happen if Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe,
Abraham Lincoln and the Three Stooges lived together? Harmony Korine
did. The controversial writer/director’s latest film features a commune
populated by sadly committed impersonators of the aforementioned
celebrities, and other luminaries, like Buckwheat. Everyone on the
commune does a lot of boring chores—in costume, naturally.
(Elsewhere, in a thematically similar but unrelated story, blue-garbed
nuns jump parachute-less from planes, and survive.) The film works best
when Korine treats his deluded impersonators sympathetically: as the
nut-balls mount a hammy showcase they’ve earnestly cobbled together and
unironically dubbed “The Greatest Show on Earth,” you hope that
childlike “Michael” (Diego Luna), “Marilyn” (Samantha Morton) and
company will play to a packed house. But ultimately, Mister
Lonely isn’t about characters, it’s about vague, important Ideas,
like faith and identity. And those Ideas aren’t persuasively expressed.
Presumably, Korine had high-minded symbolism in mind when he assembled
his iconic cast of characters, but it never comes across. Instead he
ended up making an odd, visually interesting film that mostly feels
like a fantasy episode of The Surreal Life.
This article appears in Mar 26 – Apr 1, 2009.