Samantha Morton, Diego Luna
TRAMPS ON THE FRINGE
"Often the biggest dreamers get hurt the most" - Harmony Korine
Lonely, young man (Diego Luna) and Michael Jackson impersonator, lives and works giving performances in Paris. One day, during a show in an old people's residential home, he meets Marilyn Monroe (Samantha Morton). Charmed by her appearance, he is irresistibly drawn to her and they bond. Marilyn finds in him a soulmate and invites him to to a weird commune of strangers in the Scottish Highlands, where she lives with her husband Charlie Chaplin, daughter Shirley Temple, the Pope, Madonna and James Dean. The impersonators decide to showcase their talents, with great expectations, thinking that people from all over the countryside will come and see their production. A secondary story in the film features a group of nuns who are doing charity work in a Latin American jungle.
The film features an amazing ensemble cast: Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, Denis Lavant, and two great filmmakers, Werner Herzog and Leos Carax, in supporting roles. In an interview for Bomb Magazine, Korine comments, “Both stories are about obsessive characters, dreamers and outcasts, tramps on the fringe, people wanting to be other than what they are and creating their own world outside the system.”
HARMONY KORINE is a non-conformist rebel and highly original filmmaker. He gained recognition at the young age of 19 when he wrote the shocking screenplay for Larry Clark's Kids (1992), and went on to direct his own films such as Gummo, Mister Lonely, Trush Humpers and Spring Breakers. When his controversial debut Gummo (1997) was shown at Telluride Film Festival, some people walked out after the first minutes of screening, calling the film disgusting.
Korine's films focus on the inhabitants of a poor, excluded society ignored by the mainstream, such as demoralized, lost teenagers, lonely kids, sociopathic elders, unhappy impersonators. His affection and empathy for these figures is sincere enabling the audience to fall in love with strange characters who would normally be difficult to identify or empathize with.
From the first, cult movie, Gummo, to the latest commercial Spring Breakers, he created one of the most recognizable and unique aesthetics, full of surreal absurdity. Korine has always been committed to shifting the emphasis from what the story is about, to the way it is told. He said: "I love film without traditional narrative restrictions. What a movie looks like after a bottle of tequila and a cap of ecstasy." Korine is still working in America, most recently on the comedy, The Beach Bum, with Matthew McConaughey.
- DIRECTOR: HARMONY KORINE
- WRITTEN BY: Harmony Korine, Avi Korine
- STARRING: Diego Luna, Samantha Morton, Denis Lavant, Werner Herzog, James Fox, Anita Pallenberg, Rachel Korine
- US, UK, France, Ireland,
- 2007
- 113 MINS
- RATING – 15
Doors 7:30PM
Film 8:00PM
On the set Mister Lonely, Harmony Korine, Leos Carax, Diego Luna
“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.”
“Korine is finding his way toward artistic greatness by searching his soul. It’s possible that the man in the mirror is him”
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What engages us is Korine’s revolutionary way of telling stories. It’s as though he’s downloading his dreams directly onto the screen.
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“It’s incredible how blind critics and users may be, disapproving this genuinely beautiful film. Too blind.”
