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Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
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Mister Lonely
IFC Films
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FILM:
MPAA RATING: Not Rated
Starring
Diego Luna,
Samantha Morton,
Denis Lavant,
James Fox,
Melita Morgan,
and
Anita Pallenberg
Only Harmony Korine could weave Michael Jackson, Marilyn Monroe, her daughter Shirley Temple, and flying nuns into a hypnotically funny and truly poignant tale of the instability behind fanaticism and the redemption we can hope to find in one another. The film follows a lonely Michael Jackson impersonator who is invited by a beautiful Marilyn Monroe to a commune in the Scottish Highlands full of other impersonators, including the Queen of England, Madonna, Sammy Davis Jr., and James Dean. In a parallel storyline, the incomparable Werner Herzog plays a Latin American priest who learns his missionary of nuns can literally fly. (IFC Films)
| GENRE(S): |
Comedy
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Drama
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| WRITTEN BY: |
Harmony Korine
Avi Korine
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| DIRECTED BY: |
Harmony Korine
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| RELEASE DATE: |
DVD: November 18, 2008
Theatrical: May 2, 2008
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| RUNNING TIME: |
112 minutes, Color |
| ORIGIN: |
UK / France / Ireland / USA |
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
100
Film Threat
Don R. Lewis
The film is damn near a masterpiece. Let’s hope we don’t have to wait so long to see what Korine will do next.
91
Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Travis Nichols
Korine's latest film, Mister Lonely, is no different, but this film has a sweetness that has rarely, if ever, been present in his previous work.
75
Premiere
Glenn Kenny
What to make of it all? Hard to say. Just to take in the fact that its soundtrack is made up of music by both J. Spaceman and Sun City Girls is to understand that this is a picture that's divided against itself in a way that's perhaps too hermetic to be comprehended.
75
Boston Globe
Wesley Morris
Korine is finding his way toward artistic greatness by searching his soul. It's possible that the man in the mirror is him.
70
The New York Times
A.O. Scott
Mister Lonely, self-enclosed though it may be, nonetheless demonstrates that Mr. Korine, who showed his ability to shock and repel in earlier films, also has the power to touch, to unsettle and to charm. This is undoubtedly a small movie, but it's also more than that: it's a small, imperfect world.
70
Washington Post
Desson Thomson
What engages us is Korine's revolutionary way of telling stories. It's as though he's downloading his dreams directly onto the screen.
67
Austin Chronicle
Marjorie Baumgarten
This film may be Korine's most accessible as a director, featuring characters, images, and situations that are stirring and unforgettable – even if they don't add up to a complete narrative or visual whole.
63
Chicago Tribune
Tasha Robinson
Like so many lovely cinematic dreams, Mister Lonely inevitably descends into nightmare, with an unsettlingly grim conclusion that, again, seems more imagistic than idea-driven.
60
New York Daily News
Elizabeth Weitzman
Not all of the movie works - in fact, huge portions don't - but there are enough striking moments to make a lasting impact. How ironic: In this fairy-tale of arrested development, Korine has created his most mature movie yet.
60
Los Angeles Times
Carina Chocano
While it's full of arresting, indelible images, Mr. Lonely remains mostly on the level of abstraction. You get it but you don't always feel it.
60
Variety
Scott Foundas
Less outre than "Gummo" and "Julien Donkey-Boy," Korine's most lavishly produced pic to date begins as a sweet-tempered tale of social misfits-turned-celebrity impersonators, but falls short of its ambition to say something meaningful about the obsessive nature of celebrity culture.
50
New York Magazine
David Edelstein
I'm glad Korine has pulled himself together, but the film is pretty ramshackle, full of obvious group improvisations that fail to spark and an overdose of bathos.
50
Village Voice
Jim Ridley
Co-written with his brother Avi, Mister Lonely is startlingly straightforward compared to his earlier work. But, like that work, it stands or falls on each single, self-contained scene.
50
Philadelphia Inquirer
Steven Rea
Decidedly loopy and nonlinear, Mister Lonely is precious and artsy, but there are moments when Korine's, er, unique vision brings something bold and beautiful to the table.
50
San Francisco Chronicle
Mick LaSalle
As a work of entertainment, as a cohesive narrative and as an artistic whole, there's no way to call it anything but an on-balance average effort. Yet there's nothing remotely average about the movie's warm spirit, its imaginative and arresting cinematography or its handful of unique, brilliant scenes and shrewd, bizarre performances.
50
Chicago Reader
J.R. Jones
As in Korine's other movies, characterization is often just amplified weirdness.
50
Chicago Sun-Times
Roger Ebert
An odd, desperate film, lost in its own audacity, and yet there are passages of surreal beauty and preposterous invention that I have to admire. The film doesn't work, and indeed seems to have no clear idea of what its job is, and yet (sigh) there is the temptation to forgive its trespasses simply because it is utterly, if pointlessly, original.
42
The Onion (A.V. Club)
Noel Murray
Has its moments of wonder and beauty, but the film is obscure by design, and meant to appeal to those who favor the alternative canon of directing greats: the one that includes the likes of Alejandro Jodorowsky, David Lynch, Crispin Glover, John Cassavetes, Claire Denis, Abel Ferrara, and Vincent Gallo.
38
TV Guide
Ken Fox
The film is really little more than an array of sometimes imaginative images.
38
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)
Rick Groen
Some films, like some people, wear their artsy pretensions on their sleeve, and there really isn't much going on beneath – it's just a posturing armband wrapped around a plain arm. Welcome, then, to the emptiness of Mister Lonely, a movie that goes to extraordinary lengths to say ordinary things.
25
New York Post
Kyle Smith
Occasionally there is a striking image or a moment of wounded sweetness, but mainly the film provides ample proof that it's possible to be bizarre and boring at the same time.
25
Entertainment Weekly
Owen Gleiberman
None of the faux icons comes close to being a character. Instead, they are contrasted with a group of nuns who skydive without parachutes. Could this possibly be a metaphor for Korine's filmmaking? It certainly goes splat.
 The average user rating for this movie is 5.3 (out of 10) based on 6 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
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