[rating=2]

Schizophrenia Through the Eyes of Harmony…

The Plot: Welcome to the world of schizophrenic Julien. His abusive father listens to blues in a gas mask, harassing him from time to time. His sister is pregnant with his child. Julien babbles, roams about, murders children…

Harmony Korine’s best work was his debut, screenwriting “Kids” for Larry Clark. Subtle and effective, it blows Korine’s amateurish directorial follow-up “Gummo” (in which actors blatantly look into the camera in some scenes) out of the water. With “julien donkey-boy” Korine has achieved a certain visual and stylistic confidence that he lacked in “Gummo”, yet still substitutes good storytelling with gritty ultra-realism.

This is portrayed most effectively (and somewhat gratuitously) in the opening scene, told from the perspective of a child, whom Julien unintentionally murders. From then on the audience gets to witness Julien babbling to himself in his basement bedroom, interacting with his vicious father and his sister who, by the way, is carrying his baby.  The film’s only plot highlight comes in its dramatic conclusion, when Julien’s sister goes through pregnancy complications.

“julien donkey-boy” brings to mind a similar-themed movie that came out recently, and won major acclaim at Sundance – Jonathan Caouette’s “Tarnation”. That film was basically ‘cobbled together’ by the filmmaker at home on his i-Mac, and is a revealing account of a family living under the shadow of schizophrenia. Yet “Tarnation” is a more powerful cinematic experience because of its story – it is a poignant and lengthy journey of the family with a twisted sort of conclusion to it. “julien…” has a nice visual style that supplements its disturbing tone, yet seemingly says nothing new on the subject of schizophrenia, and doesn’t really go anywhere.

The performances are generally decent; especially effective is the unusual casting of acclaimed director Werner Herzog as the abusive dad, who maliciously harasses Julien for his shortcomings. The film’s dogme style certainly adds to the voyeuristic feeling of the film, and keeps the attention, despite the lack of a good story. “julien donkey-boy” does a very good job of compelling its audience to watch something they know they will later regret.

Bottom Line: While not as utterly reprehensible as Korine’s “Gummo”, “julien…” remains a questionable choice for those looking to find a compelling account of life with schizophrenia.