- Mister Lonely
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For the song, see Mr. Lonely.
Mister Lonely 
Theatrical release posterDirected by Harmony Korine Produced by Robin Wood Written by Harmony Korine
Avi KorineStarring Diego Luna
Samantha MortonMusic by Sun City Girls
Jason PierceCinematography Marcel Zyskind Editing by Valdís Óskarsdóttir Studio HanWay Distributed by IFC Films (US)
Tartan Films (UK)Release date(s) May 22, 2007 (Cannes)
April 30, 2008Running time 112 minutes Country United Kingdom
France
Ireland
United StatesLanguage English
FrenchBudget $8.2 million Box office $393,813 Mister Lonely is a 2007 comedy-drama film directed by Harmony Korine, and co-written with his brother Avi Korine.
Contents
Plot
A young American man (Diego Luna) living in Paris scratches out a living as a Michael Jackson look-alike, dancing on the streets, public parks, tourist spots and trade shows. During a show in an old people's home, he meets Marilyn Monroe (Samantha Morton). Haunted by her angelic beauty, he follows her to a commune in the Scottish Highlands, joining her husband Charlie Chaplin (Denis Lavant) and her daughter Shirley Temple (Esme Creed-Miles). Here, The Pope (James Fox), The Queen (Anita Pallenberg), Madonna (Melita Morgan), James Dean (Joseph Morgan), and other impersonators build a stage in the hope that the world will visit and watch them perform. When the play goes bust, Marilyn kills herself and Michael moves back to Paris, leaving open the question of whether he will quit his life as an impersonator.
A second plotline concerns a convent of nuns, in what seems to be a Third World country. One of the nuns survives a fall from an airplane during a mission to deliver food to villages, and discovers that if you are true of heart, God will protect you. All the nuns then begin jumping from planes to show they are true of heart and protected by God. This storyline ends with the nuns being invited to the Vatican to meet the Pope himself, but the plane crashes in the ocean, killing everyone on board.[1]
Cast
Actor Role Diego Luna Michael Jackson Samantha Morton Marilyn Monroe Denis Lavant Charlie Chaplin Werner Herzog Father Umbrillo James Fox The Pope Melita Morgan Madonna Anita Pallenberg The Queen Jason Pennycook Sammy Davis, Jr. Esme Creed-Miles Shirley Temple Werner Herzog Priest Leos Carax Renard Britta Gartner Nun Alisa Grace Greaves Autograph Girl Quentin Grosset Le Petit Garçon Rachel Korine Little Red Riding Hood Joseph Morgan James Dean Richard Strange Abraham Lincoln Daniel Rovai Moe Howard Mal Whiteley Larry Fine Nigel Cooper Curly Howard Michael-Joel Stuart Buckwheat Angel Morgan Various parts Development
Korine conceived of a movie about impersonators as a way to explore what he called "the obsessive nature" of the impersonator personality. Rather than mocking or belittling impersonation, Korine claims to have felt a "fondness and empathy" for impersonators since childhood.[2]
Korine came up with the idea for the film after the release of Julien Donkey-Boy, but his drug use and general disillusionment (along with fund-raising difficulties) prolonged the process. In a February 2007 interview with Screen International, he said: "I'd been making movies since I was virtually a kid, and it had always come very easily. At a certain point after the last movie, I started to have this general disconnect from things. I was really miserable with where I was. I began to lose sight of things and people started to become more and more distant. I was burnt out, movies were what I always loved in life and I started to not care. I went deeper and deeper into a dark place and to be honest movies were the last thing I was thinking about - I didn't know if I was going to be alive. My dream was to evaporate. I was unhealthy. Whatever happened during that time, and I won't go into the details, maybe it was something I needed to go through."[3] In a 2003 interview with the New York Post, former girlfriend Chloe Sevigny revealed that the formerly straight edge Korine had become addicted to heroin and methadone while they were together, with Korine's substance abuse issues contributing to the end of their relationship.[4][5]
Richard Strange, who plays Abraham Lincoln in the movie, claimed that Korine often changed scenes and lines as he filmed the movie.[6]
Production
While shooting the commune scenes, the cast and crew of Mister Lonely lived together in a Scottish castle, and many of the actors remained in their impersonated characters for all or part of the time they were off-camera. Actor Denis Lavant even bathed with his shoes on, as his impersonated character Charlie Chaplin was said to do.
To film the secondary storyline, Korine worked with real skydiving nuns from Spain, sometimes in 120-degree heat.[2]
Soundtrack
Half of the music for the film was written and performed by Sun City Girls, with the other half being created by Spiritualized frontman, Jason "Spaceman" Pierce.
- "Michael's Opening" (dialogue)
- Jason Spaceman – "Blues 1"
- Jason Spaceman – "Blues 2 (Intro)"
- Sun City Girls – "3D Girls"
- Jason Spaceman – "Panama 1"
- Sun City Girls – "Spook"
- Jason Spaceman – "Garden Walk"
- Sun City Girls – "Steppe Spiritual"
- Jason Spaceman – "Pope in the Bath"
- "Nun's Prayer" (dialogue)
- Sun City Girls – "Mr. Lonely Viola"
- Sun City Girls – "Beryl Scepter"
- "Red Riding Hood's Hangman" (dialogue)
- Jason Spaceman – "Stooges Harmonica"
- "Father Umbrillo's Broken Nation"
- Jason Spaceman – "Musicbox Underwater"
- Sun City Girls – "Circus Theme"
- Sun City Girls – "Vine Street Piano"
- Jason Spaceman – "Paris Beach"
- Sun City Girls – "Farewell"
- Angel Morgan – "Gold Dust"
Reception
Korine's largest film to date with a budget of $8.2 million,[3] Mister Lonely earned $386,915 in its first nine months[7] — $167,396 in the United States and $219,519 in other territories.[7] The film received mixed to negative reviews. Rotten Tomatoes reports that the film maintains a 46% approval, the general consensus being, "Less biting or offensive than Korine's earlier works, this frustratingly dull film still maintains the director's trademark odd beauty." [8]
References
- ^ "Harmony-Korine.com – News" (html). http://www.harmony-korine.com/paper/main/news.html. Retrieved 2006-12-27.
- ^ a b Bishop, Richard. "Harmony Korine". BOMB Magazine. Spring 2008. Retrieved 3 August 2011.
- ^ a b Screen International Magazine, "Only The Lonely" by Fionnuala Halligan, Feb 2, 2007 p34-35
- ^ http://www.chloesevigny.com/news_page5.html
- ^ Harmony-Korine.com . Interviews & Articles
- ^ Richard Strange (May 1, 2008). Highland Flings. ARTINFO. http://www.artinfo.com/news/story/27488/highlands-fling/. Retrieved 2008-05-14.
- ^ a b "Mister Lonely (2008)". Box Office Mojo. http://boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=misterlonely.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-12.
- ^ http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1192616-mister_lonely/
External links
- Mister Lonely at the Internet Movie Database
- Mister Lonely at Box Office Mojo
- Mister Lonely at Rotten Tomatoes
- Mister Lonely at Metacritic
- Mister Lonely @ Harmony-Korine.com
- London Premiere, Nashville Premier
- FilmCatcher Interview, SXSW Interview, Specialten Interview
- Tribeca Interview, Apple Interview, Gordon and the Whale interview
- LA Q&A, IFC Q&A, IFC Q&A #2, IFF Q&A
- Interview with Harmony Korine about Mister Lonely at ion magazine
Works by Harmony Korine Written and directed Written Unreleased Fight Harm · JokesMusic video "Sunday"Art, writing and
photographyOther works The Devil, The Sinner, and His Journey · Korine TapCategories:- British films
- French films
- Irish films
- American films
- 2007 films
- 2000s comedy films
- 2000s drama films
- American comedy-drama films
- English-language films
- Michael Jackson
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