Diego Luna stars as a solitary performer, who thinks he’s Michael Jackson and is persuaded by a Marilyn Monroe double (Samantha Morton) to leave Paris to join a community of individuals who imitate famous people. The latest offering from the director of the films Gummo and julien donkey-boy, and one of the most talked about movies at this year’s Cannes IFF.
The main character of this film (Diego Luna) knows he is Michael Jackson. As far as he remembers he has always been Michael Jackson, but the song and dance work he does on the streets of Paris unfortunately does not meet with anything like the success that his idol attained. One day he meets the beautiful Marilyn Monroe (Samantha Morton) who captivates him entirely. Marilyn convinces him to go away with her and become part of a community of people each of whom live the life of someone else – her husband is Charlie Chaplin (Denis Lavant), her daughter is Shirley Temple (Esme Creed-Miles), and Madonna, James Dean, the Queen of England, Little Red Riding Hood, and others are there too. They grow vegetables, herd sheep, rehearse scenes to entertain the people in the village nearby, and first and foremost, do everything they can to be as close as possible both physically and mentally to the dream idols they want to be... A charming story about loneliness, love, and the desire to become someone else.
112 min / Color, 35 mm
Director Harmony Korine
/ Screenplay Harmony Korine, Avi Korine
/ Dir. of Photography Marcel Zyskind
/ Music Jason Spaceman
/ Editor Paul Zucker, Valdís Oskarsdóttir
/ Producer Nadja Romain
/ Production O’Salvation Cine Ltd.
/ Cast Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, Denis Lavant, James Fox, Werner Herzog
/ Contact Dreamachine
Harmony Korine (b. 1973, Bolinas, California) is without a doubt one of the most interesting directors on the American independent scene. He grew up in Nashville and New York, and abandoned his studies in film school after only a semester. At the age of 19 he wrote the screenplay for the shocking, critically acclaimed movie Kids (1995) by Larry Clark. The success of this film allowed Korine to make the feature-length film Gummo (1997), which drew attention at the festival in Venice and was also presented a year later at the Karlovy Vary IFF, as was his next film, julien donkey-boy (1998). Korine is the author of the novel A Crack-Up at the Race Riots (1998). His long-anticipated Mister Lonely, which he made after an eight-year pause during which he worked in television, was among the most controversial films accepted at this year’s festival in Cannes.
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