THE BROWN BUNNY (3+ outta 5 stars) Vincent Gallo is one of the best indie filmmakers out there. He finances his own odd films by doing odd work in other people's odd films. I don't think there has been a movie he's been in that wasn't worth seeing, if only for his intensely offbeat performance. "The Brown Bunny" is about as close to a one-man show as you can get in the collaborative medium of film. Gallo, wrote it, directed it, filmed it, did music for it and acts in it. Yes, it may seem egocentric to have his name flash on the screen twenty times during the credits... but what's he supposed to do... lie and make up phony pseudonyms? This is a short movie (apparently it was a lot longer when it was shown in Cannes and got booed) but it still seems long because of its ultra-slow pacing. Scene after scene of Gallo riding his motorcycle into the distance, standing in doorways, listening to music, coming on to strange women and driving around a city block... all in slow, deliberate detail. None of it really makes much sense until the devastating finale (and by "finale" I mean what is revealed *after* the notorious fellatio scene). I'd love to see what kind of movie Gallo could make if he had a huge budget...
Review of The Brown Bunny
