Harmony Korine has got to be stopped!! I mean, what the hell? Did anyone else feel ripped off after paying hard-earned money to see his last film, Donkey Bop? I understand the whole Dogme 95 manifesto and I have enjoyed every film up till now that adhered to its pretentious rules. But hey, Harmony, you may want to give a call to Mr. VonTrier for some explanations on what those guys had in mind with their "10 rules to save cinema and bring back natural honest filmmaking"-thing because your film didn't seem very natural or honest. This film is far more interesting when describing the plot than actually watching it unfold on screen. Here's my beef wit ya, Mr. Korine:

We get the schizophrenia angle, Ewan Bremner plays it textbook. As for the rest of the characters and performances ... what the fuck? This film seemed less Dogme-esque and more from the French school of anti-bourgeois, or like something Stan Brakhage would make if he made real movies. I don't know what about this movie made me more dyspeptic: how you got carried away with the dozens of cameras used in filming, or the irritating amount of excessive ad-libbing (was there a script?). Maybe just the simple fact that this film is an embarrassment to the tradition of "Art House" films produced in this country. The more I think about this cinematic abomination, Jesus Christ! What were you thinking? It must really be wonderful to be so truly gifted and brilliant that you can waste millions of dollars of other peoples' money on experimental film disguised as a feature, while legions of unknown, talented cinematic voices starve in the gutter and hundreds of your fans sit silently in a theater and endure such wanton wastes of their time.

Before I continue with my lambasting, I want to point out that Mr. Korine does deserve his props as a gifted writer and artist, and is certainly not the first director to lose it after being given too much free reign by producers or a studio. The annals of Hollywood are filled with examples of directors' overindulgent fiascoes. The list includes many highly esteemed directors who made great comebacks despite missing the target once or twice. Korine first displayed hints of this extremely annoying, elitist-shithead trend in Gummo, but maintained a quasi-conventional, directorial technique and made a really entertaining and compelling film that went against the grain and was, all in all, a success. (Korine also had the all-time-funniest cameo by a director in that film)

I guess my real issue here is that Donkey Boy comes off as a not too subtle "fuck you" to the audience. I'm sorry but that is exactly how I felt after enduring this film. Now then, this is obviously not the point of the Dogme manifesto. It may be a "fuck you" to the studios and producers and money people who care little for the art of film, but not the audience for god's sake! Without the audience, you've got zip! Challenging an audience is one thing, irritating them to the point of distraction is another.

Furthermore, Korine apparently feels that a script with dialogue is some bullshit Hollywood convention that's holding back cinematic honesty. Huh? It's one thing for an artist to have a lack of concern for mainstream acceptance (which I doubt the veracity of, on a deep level, with ANY director, despite what they claim). Any real film lover would agree that many of the popular films in this country (and many others as well) are often nothing more than pap. They can appreciate an alternative view of the world through a directors eye on a path away from the mainstream multiplex world of Eddie Murphy epics and American remakes of French films not yet a decade old. Forget about the mainstream, multiplex audience, Donkey Boy seems made for the director's interests alone with no intent of letting us inside. Any movie buff would be totally alienated by this picture.

Sadly, Korine's genius seems to have been overwhelmed by his ego. He's brushed off criticism by saying something like; he doesn't care what people have to say against the film because those critics probably like Julia Roberts movies. I just have to say that I fucking hate Julia Roberts movies ... each and every putrid one of them. In my opinion, Korine's art in Donkey Boy isn't just inaccessible; it's analogous to an artist selling a beautifully spray-painted shoebox filled with manure to some erudite asshole in a Soho gallery for five-thousand dollars. But then, apparently some people enjoy manure (like Donkey Boy co-star: der Todesking Herzog).

I read somewhere that one of Korine's upcoming projects (as a feature film) features the director going out in public and getting beaten up while assistants secretly film the fights, but it hasn't been finished because Korine was too severely injured. Harmony ... come on man, ease up on the recreational pharmaceuticals and give the celluloid world a break.
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Celluloid Junkie