Julien Donkey-Boy is a movie filmed from a first-person point of view. We see the entire movie through the eyes of Julien, a teenage schizophrenic with a multitude of other disabilities. His father is a deranged alcoholic, sadistic and abusive, who spends most of his times in his room wearing a gas mask (why, I don't know).

Julien has an incestual relationship with his sister, played by Chloe Sevigny. She is also borderline mentally disabled and is pregnant by Julien. We don't really see any intimacy or love between the two - just odd scenes here and there. Julien's younger brother really doesn't figure into the movie, other than to provide someone for Julien to wrestle with while wearing women's underwear.

I would go into more detail about the plot of this movie - but honestly, there really isn't a plot. An ambitious undertaking for any director, this is supposed to be life as seen through the eyes of a schizophrenic (based on the director's uncle, who did suffer from schizophrenia). However, the blurry, jittery hand-held camera work is more distracting than effective.

Harmony Korine is known for disturbing imagery, and this film is no exception. I don't have any problem with disturbing imagery - but it's thrown in the movie in such a way that it's absolutely pointless. Chloe Sevigny does a decent job of acting, but as stated earlier, the cinematography takes all of the viewer's energy and leaves few resources to appreciate any other aspect of the film. The only comparison I can come up with is Oliver Stone's work in Natural Born Killers. However, where NBK succeeds in making a point with the camera work, Julien Donkey-Boy is the perfect example of how easily this method can go wrong.

While I read horrible reviews that should have warned me away from Julien Donkey-Boy, it was Roger Ebert's rave reviews that led me to give it a chance.

I usually love artistic movies. This movie made a feeble attempt at being artistic, but ended up one big, jumbled mess. I understand we're seeing things mainly from the point of view of a schizophrenic.. but how pointless and ridiculous.

There is an art to doing blatantly realistic, real-time movies. David Lynch is a master at it - and even he can get out of control from time to time. But in the hands of a shock-value monger, hack director like Harmony Korine and you end up with a train-wreck of a movie like Julien Donkey-Boy or Gummo.

The only group of people I can see enjoying this would be a younger crowd, perhaps using illicit substances and looking for visual overload.. but otherwise, just stay away.

Don't waste your time. The best part of the entire movie was watching a man eat cigarettes, seeing my first black albino and watching a man play the drums with his feet. But to me, that doesn't make for a plot - just a freakshow.

This movie is most definitely on my top 5 list of movies I actually chose to watch on my own accord.

Recommended:
No

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: None of the Above
Suitability For Children: Not suitable for Children of any age