Failing miserably to achieve the existential-racer-chic of “Two-Lane Blacktop,” yet not quite so awkwardly inept as the bored-road-sex turd that is “Twentynine Palms,” “The Brown Bunny” has a few moments, but is still an embarrassment. Somehow, only Michelangelo Antonioni and Gus Van Sant know how to make “these types” of movies work — I don’t know how they do it, but they do. A big problem with “The Brown Bunny” is that if your film is going to be (mostly) non-narrative and non-verbal, you’d best have a specific visual/design agenda. Gallo does not. Gallo’s “Buffalo ’66” is still a masterpiece, so I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt and just chalk this up to failed concept and wish him better luck next time.
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Welcome
Jordan Hoffman is a New York-based writer and film critic working for The Guardian, Vanity Fair, Thrillist, Times of Israel, NY Daily News and elsewhere.
He is the host of ENGAGE: The Official Star Trek Podcast, a member of the New York Film Critics Circle and challenges you to a game of backgammon.
This review really nails it:
http://www.slate.com/id/2106174
And an F for 9 Songs? Jesus Jordan.
I stand by my F for 9 Songs, but maybe C- is too kind for Brown Bunny. However, there are at least 3 terrific scenes in this movie. The convenience store scene, the “moment” with Cheryl Tiegs and the post-BJ “reveal” in the hotel room. Those were honest-to-God good scenes with very good acting. 9 Songs had nothing.
This may be the first Brown Bunny review (or mini-review for that matter) that talks about the movie without dealing with THE BJ. And considering THE BJ was pretty much the whole reason the rest of the movie existed (both narratively and for Gallo it seems)…that’s quite an omission. Has JordanHoffman.com gone PG-13 on us?!
If you believe the above, as I tend to, then would this be the most expensive BJ of all time?
Not PG13, just a class act!!
I was rummaging through V. Gallo’s very entertaing website (yes, the same one where he offers to sell his sperm) and came across this very funny review of a King Crimson album:
http://www.vincentgallo.com/writing/KingCrimson.html
Considering both the climax and trailer of Buffalo ’66 was set to the tune of Yes’ “Heart of the Sunrise” I beleive Gallo is being sincere about his love of 70s prog rock. HOWEVER, note the extreme diss on Chloe Sevigny. This piece was written in 2000 — about 2 or 3 years before production of Brown Bunny and Chloe’s very dedicated performance.
What gives?