:o Read with Caution, slight spoilers :-*
The Brown Bunny (2004) -NC-17-
Written and Directed by: Vincent Gallo
Starring: Vincent Gallo, Chloë Sevigny, Cheryl Tiegs
A Haunting Depiction of Love Lost That Nearly Loses the Audience
Bud Clay is a very disturbed individual. He races his motorcycle, comes onto women just to dump them, and has haunting memories of his one true love, Daisy. This is a road-movie, and Bud is on a journey. He is going to California to see his ex-girlfriend, yet once he gets there, we realize his journey is not what we thought.
The Brown Bunny, Vincent Gallo’s second feature film, is a haunting depiction of love lost. It’s also a drudging, grueling journey that nearly loses the audience. There’s not much to Bud, and we later find out why. He’s an outcast, and has a tendency to treat women like objects, even in his memories or fantasies of his one true love.
This is one of those films where the ending will “blow� you away. There’s an infamous scene that’s received a lot of press, a certain sexual act is performed by Daisy, his true love. But the most disturbing scene is a flashback after that.
Once again, Chloë Sevigny sure puts herself out there. With this film, she has been raped in two movies now. In her first role in Larry Clark’s Kids, after taking drugs she is raped at a party, very reminiscent of this film.
I admire Gallo for making The Brown Bunny, for making it the way he wanted to, for having an original vision, for producing it and finding financing himself. Most of Hollywood and critics alike have blown him off, calling him narcissistic, and I can understand that.
Vincent Gallo attended what was supposed to be a Q&A session after the opening night showing of his film at the Sunshine Theater here in New York City. Instead of taking questions from the audience and answering them, i.e. Q & A, he decided to talk for 20 minutes, and then show a clip of the Ebert and Roeper show when they panned The Brown Bunny in their Cannes Film Festival review. He talked about how he’s always being wrongly labeled as a narcissist and this film narcissistic, yet he didn’t want any feedback or questions from the audience.
What’s even more ironic is: Gallo criticizes Ebert for labeling his film “the worst in Cannes history,� without giving reasons why he hated so much, yet he is so easily willing to mention how both he and Ebert didn’t like The Village at a drop of a hat, and give no reasons why he didn’t like it.
No matter what you may think, or what I think of Gallo personally, I don’t think it is fair to dismiss his film based on his actions in his personal life. I am always for judging the art, not the artist. If we did the latter, we would have to dismiss every Woody Allen and Roman Polanski film based on their character or previous life choices they made.
The Brown Bunny haunted me for days after I saw it. While the road trip to California does take too long and there a few too many scenes of self-indulgent nothingnessâ€â€
Hi and welcome to the board!
Well, hope you understand that I don´t wanna mess with you, but I have to disagree with this review.
I can not understand what makes Gallo to such a great director in your opinion. I can not seen any inovative and great kind of art BB should be. I mean isn´t it a movie about a guy driving his motorcyle and recieving head?
Where is a vision in this movie?
Okay, you can say I have no right to talk about it, cuz I have only seen 2 Trailer and read about it, but from what I have seen it is nothing special.
If he didn´t film the blow job and made this aggressive poster ads, do you think that many people would talk about the movie?
And to this Erbert stuff, I don´t think that it is okay that Gallo said he wishes that Ebert dies on cancer.
Above all, when he later cut the movie for 26 min. and there were not that much people inn Cannes who really liked it.
For me there is a huge difference between directors like Qt and VG.
Well again, no offense, I would like to talk with you about it. Hope that no one on this baord try to kill me now…
Well, like you said, you haven’t seen it, so how can you disagree?
I don’t have very high hopes for this movie, admittedly, but I’ll be seeing it anyway because I loved Buffalo '66. I think if Vincent hadn’t made so many enemies, the movie would have been more well recieved, which is a shame because his rants against people are always entertaining.
First of, of course, I will see the movie, when I have the chance and of course if I see that it is great, I will chance my mind and post it here.
But like I said, from what I saw (which is not much and I underlined this fact by myself), I can not see the greatness. I mean you can get a feeling from seeing a Trailer (above all, when the trailer is made by the director himself), and there was - for me - nothing which impresses me much.
I tried to explain, that the things I have seen are not great for me / don´t look great for me. It is not easy to explain my expression in a foreign language, I hope you can understand my point.
I would like to read what you find so good about the movie. Can you give me your own review? Tell me, what makes BB to a great movie for you.
I heard that this movie was trash and the only reason people actually went to see it is because the blowjob scene was real
[quote]I heard that this movie was trash and the only reason people actually went to see it is because the blowjob scene was real[/quote]
I don’t understand this backlash against it. You all have these negative thoughts about a film you haven’t even seen. I’m actually with Gallo when he says he can’t understand the bad press against the film…meaning, this is a very independant, personal film. This isn’t ALIEN VS. PREDATOR or THE EXORICIST: THE BEGINNING. Granted I haven’t seen those, and I use those in arguements stating the American public’s taste is going downhill (or always has been) when movies like that top the box office–and I haven’t seen them.
But the point I’m trying to make is, there is a difference. AVP and ETB are made by committee for the sole purpose of making money. No artistic quality whatsoever.
THE BROWN BUNNY was basically made by one man. Gallo directed, wrote, produced, was mostly the dop, etc. Why is everyone treating this film like Hollywood garbage.
[quote]but from what I have seen it is nothing special.[/quote]
But you haven’t seen the film. See it, then if it doesn’t work for you, articulate why.
[quote]
I don´t think that it is okay that Gallo said he wishes that Ebert dies on cancer.[/quote]
But is it right for Ebert to sit there and label his very personal film that he spent years making, “the worst in Cannes film festival history?” No, it wasn’t right what Gallo said, but it was just a reaction. And by the way, Ebert and Gallo have made amends, and Ebert gave thumbs up to the edited version of THE BROWN BUNNY that is now in theaters.
[quote]
Above all, when he later cut the movie for 26 min. and there were not that much people inn Cannes who really liked it.
For me there is a huge difference between directors like Qt and VG. [/quote]
First of all, were you at Cannes? Because Gallo said there were applauses, while others say there were boos. I’m sure there were both, and both parties have their own agendas for their stories. But the problem is, everyone is caught up in the hype of the film, just like FAHRENHEIT 9/11, without actually examining the picture. And that’s what I have a problem with, and what makes me so angry.
I’m not even going to touch the QT/VG comparison b/c they’re 2 totally different directors, with 2 totally different agendas. I’m a huge Tarantino fan, and he’s nothing like Gallo, but that doesn’t make Gallo good or bad. It’s like comparing QT to Scorsese. The only thing they have in common in their love and astute knowledge of film (QT and MS that is).
Anyhow, see the film, and then we’ll talk. I’m not saying you’ll like it, I’m not even trying to convince you that its good. And if you notice, I point out things I didn’t like. I didn’t even give it a rave review.
But is it so taboo to put a blow job in a movie? I mean, come on (no pun intended). Grow up, and don’t write off a film like this just b/c of the hype.
[quote=“Fidelio1st”]
[quote]I heard that this movie was trash and the only reason people actually went to see it is because the blowjob scene was real[/quote]
I don’t understand this backlash against it. You all have these negative thoughts about a film you haven’t even seen.
[/quote]
I don’t have any negative thoughts on it. I don’t have any thoughts on it at all. I was just saying what i’ve heard.
hm, why are you so rude and tell me to grow up?  I asked you in a politly way some questions. As adult people we both should talk without this “hey, grow up!” stuff. I asked you in a respectful manner and you should answer in the same way.
I never said that this film is shit and I never judged about it in a absolutly way. It is not my way of seeing movies. I want to be convinienced from a movie. I love movies and i am happy to see good one.
Well after seeing the Trailer, I was not able to see something special in it. So I asked you: What is the great thing in the movie? I never said, that a Trailer is the same as the movie.
Well, Ebert, yes I think that he can say that for him it was the worst movie in Cannes, why not. Why should he not say what he feels? Cuz it is Gallo, he talked about? And maybe Gallo must have seen it like Ebert, cuz he edited 26 min…
And I don´t know acceptable reason to wish that someone died on cancer. Above all not if a person said soemthing about a movie. I thing this was way to rough.
And I never said that there is a problem to show a blow job in a movie. It is a natural thing… But so much time for that scene and the advertising I saw, makes me asking you about it. If the movie is so much more, why was it necessary to show only the blow job?
Again: I would really appriciate to hear what you have to say about the movie. And I never said that the movie is bad. I said that the Trailer doesn´t looks interessting for me, not more or less.
And if course I will post here after seeing the movie, this is something I do everytime. I inform about a movie, ask some people, see the movie and than talk about it again.
well from what I’ve read here now (and please stop talking about blowjobs, thats not the point here), it seems like this movie is famous already solely for how possibly bad it is or how real the blowjob is. that doesnt speak for its artistic quality i think…
I will see this - love Buffalo 66 in terms of it being really artistic with music and different grains of film stock used.
Peeped his interview on Howard Stern and Ebert called in - they squashed the beef and Ebert liked the trimmed version of Brown Bunny for whatever that is worth.
I am a big friend of Vincent Gallo. In my opinion he is one of the best actors I have ever seen on screen. He has charm, very specific eyes and always brings his own character, which is very similar to my own, into his characters in movies. That makes him realistic and believable. Especially his performance in “Buffalo '66” is awesome, absolutely Oscar-worthy. But who cares about the fucking Oscars actually? “The Brown Bunny” is outstanding too. Gallo shows that he has talent as a director too. Well, he already showed that in “Buffalo '66”, but now you really see that he has much talent for the future in directing, because everybody who loves movies should already know that he’s perfect in acting. As an European, I don’t understand the whole shit about the blowjob from “The Brown Bunny”. I’ve seen the movie, thought it was a really good one (one of the most honest dramas I know) and don’t understood the shit about the blowjob. I have seen movies like “Last Tango in Paris”, “The Dreamers”, “Senso 45”, “Caligula” and much of Russ Meyer’s stuff and cannot understand how extreme Americans can react just because of a little felatio scene. Well, but lets doubt that old fucked up theme. Gallo is an outstanding actor and very talented director and everyone who likes dramas should check out his great films.
[quote=“Grindhouse-Ezekiel”]
As an European, I don’t understand the whole shit about the blowjob from “The Brown Bunny”. I’ve seen the movie, thought it was a really good one (one of the most honest dramas I know) and don’t understood the shit about the blowjob. I have seen movies like “Last Tango in Paris”, “The Dreamers”, “Senso 45”, “Caligula” and much of Russ Meyer’s stuff and cannot understand how extreme Americans can react just because of a little felatio scene.
[/quote]
Cool, where did you see it? 
The fact that it’s NOT simulated is why there’s such a fuss over it. I’ve heard a lot of negative things just about the movie itself and it doesn’t really interest me, so I probably won’t see it anyway
I think Gallo is an awsome director and his Buffalo 66’ was a really really good movie. So i think he’s great.
Well I can understand why it gets bad airplay,I was wanting to see it because I heard it in reference to Kids. I relate to that movie so much,I love everything about it and even the fucked up rosencraz and gildistern characters of Telly and Casper. I relate to them and in some ways I was like them and I even formed a weird theory on the movie. This do a bit far yes but I do a random search on a website for blowjob because well… really I don’t know why I was bored and they came up with the brown bunny scene and I was a bit shocked to actually see it, of course I had heard about the scene before and damn it still shocked me. I guess the big problem is I don’t want to see Chloë Sevigny,I still see her as the tragic woman in Kids and she is one of my favorite actresses,I don’t want to see her blowing somebody I mean its like if I saw Uma Thurman doing that I would freak out. It is not like I have not seen a blow job or a unsimulated blow job in a movie its just that watching a favorite actress do that doesn’t work for me,I really don’t know why but it bothers me and I am going to show my ignorance and I saw I have seen only that one scene. I really do want to see it because I am a fan of Gallo but somebody here has got to understand why it gets bad airplay.
I’d really like to see this movie. From what I’ve read, I can’t really relate to the people who dislike the movie, most of them are criticising it for the blowjob or criticising Vincent for being ‘pretentious’ :
The positive reviews I’ve seen make it seem like a very interesting movie though. It’s a shame it’s not available to watch in the UK.
Vincent Gallo is an alright director. I liked the Brown Bunny. I think he should stick to acting. Palookaville was hilarious!