Saturday, January 14, 2012

The Brown Bunny (2003)



Alan Smithee used to have a DVD player that allowed him to view films in fast forward with sound. It was perfect for the obligatory music video segment that is part of almost every movie made since 1990. It also converted The Brown Bunny from 93 minutes of tedium into a mildly entertaining 46.5 minute film.

Vincent Gallo directed the wonderful Buffalo '66 (1998); if you haven't seen it, Alan Smithee recommends you rent it now, then return here and read the rest of this review. Mr. Gallo made it clear in interviews that he thought an awful lot of himself, and when The Brown Bunny was poorly reviewed, he quit filmmaking to adore himself privately.

At standard speed, Alan Smithee must agree that The Brown Bunny is not a very good film. In double time, however, it ain't half bad. Interminable scenes of Bud (Gallo) riding his motorcycle become merely a little long, and perhaps even create the meditative rhythm that Mr Gallo was trying for. The ending is still unnecessarily graphic (and ludicrous), but it lasts half as long.

Alan Smithee wishes he could remember the model number of that DVD player for those who wish to recreate the experience described above. It might have been a Toshiba.

7 comments:

Kurt said...

Could it have been a Philips?

Casey said...

My friend edited this film and as part of his "contract" had to give vincent full editing credit. His name appears no where in the credits.

bitchlet said...

You should review House Bunny (2008). Pretty please.

Brian Miller said...

haha...there are several films i wish i could play on this player...

Austin said...

Nice 3rd person enjoyed that. Really enjoyed the line, "he quit film-making to adore himself privately"

Alan Burnett said...

I like the idea of that fast-forward DVD player. I recently bought an audiobook reading of Ted Kennedy's autobiography True Compass which, after a couple of chapters, I found dreadfully dull. I managed to speed up the playback on my iPod so that I heard the whole thing in about half and hour and, at that speed, it sounded almost musical.

Frankkumon said...

DVD players that fast-forward with full audio are nice. Liberal politics suck!