Julien Donkey-Boy

    Julien Donkey-Boy
    1999

    Synopsis

    Undiagnosed, untreated and generally untethered schizophrenic Julien lives with his pregnant younger sister Pearl, would-be wrestler brother Chris, sympathetic grandmother, and severely depressed German father.

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    Cast

    • Ewen BremnerJulien
    • Chloë SevignyPearl
    • Werner HerzogFather
    • Evan NeumannChris
    • Joyce KorineGrandmama
    • Alvin LawCard-Playing Neighbor
    • Brian FiskPond boy
    • Miriram MartinezTeenage Girl
    • Edgar ErikksonBearded Man
    • James MoixDancing Man

    Recommendations

    • 88

      San Francisco Examiner

      Feels like it could go blow up at any time. It implodes instead, and the meltdown, though visible in one of the final sequences, is still corrosive.
    • 75

      Chicago Sun-Times

      It seems at first to be merely a jumble of discordant images ("Freaks" shot by the "Blair Witch" crew) but then, if you stay with it, the pattern emerges from the jumble.
    • 75

      Christian Science Monitor

      Korine confirms his reputation as one of today's most experimentally minded filmmakers, helped by an inventive cast including German director Herzog in a surprisingly strong performance as the father.
    • 70

      L.A. Weekly

      Looks like no other recent release...certainly rich enough to warrant more than one viewing.
    • 63

      New York Daily News

      I'd never seen anything like it, and can say that I hope to never see anything like it again.
    • 60

      Washington Post

      The stranger and more unusual the characters, and the less they're explained, the better.
    • 30

      Village Voice

      A handheld and grainy exercise in cine-stupefaction...too spastic to connect...the movie just flails the air.
    • 25

      New York Post

      Sucker bait for the sort of credulous cinast who'll buy anything ugly and boring that looks like it's avant-garde...rancid stew of cheap shocks, sleaze and phony artiness.

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