Harmony Korine says that he likes to play the camera like an instrument and this com-mitment to experimenting with the visual is what makes his new film, Mr. Lonely re-markable. You might remember Mr. Korine from his auspicious, precocious debut as co-writer of Kids, Larry Clark’s controversial tale of urban teenagers running amok. Since then, Mr. Korine has made what Janet Maslin called the worst movie of the year, been befriended by Werner Herzog and developed and kicked a heroin addiction. And Mr. Lonely kind of contains it all: it shows us in a somewhat indirect way what this jour-ney has revealed to him.

The titular character is a very good but seemingly not very celebrated Michael Jackson impersonator, played skillfully by Diego Luna of Y Tu Mama Tambien fame. Apparently he was so good he fooled Richard Williams (Venus and Serena's dad.) In a lovely opening shot we see Michael Jackson scraping by in the Tuileries, that iconic garden in Paris which connects the Arc de Triomphe to the Louvre. Later while barely connecting to a group of elderly at a nursing home, he is invited by Marilyn Monroe (the always ex-emplary Samantha Morton) to come back with her to a commune in Scotland where she lives with a motley crew of impersonators including her husband Charlie Chaplin (Denis Lavant), her daughter Shirley Temple (Esme Creed-Miles), The Pope, The Queen, James Dean and Sammy Davis Jr. among others.

This exploration of the whys and hows of this very particular type of fan worship and self erasure coincides with a story taking place in an unidentified Latin American country. Here the charismatic and often inebriated Father Umbrillo (Werner Herzog) inadver-tently witnesses a miracle when a nun falls out of a plane he is directing during a food drop. It would be giving away a bit too much to say exactly how these stories intertwine yet they do...and quite nicely. And ultimately there is a bit about the vagaries of fame whether chased or thrust upon one.

If you haven’t figured this out, Mr. Lonely isn’t a standard narrative film, maybe it’s ex-perimental, avant garde yet always inviting. Von Trier’s Dogma movement as well as other Hollywood outsiders have clearly influenced if not exactly dictated Mr. Korine’s approach to filmmaking here. Long languid shots and a slow moving story that is al-most subservient to the image work because there is also a strong, narrative underpin-ning. Mr. Korine was very particular about what he wanted - beautiful images without, he he puts it any particular loyalty to technology. He shot the jungle on Super 16 for a “national geographic” grainy look and then used standard 35mm for the European part of the story. And it works as a fascinating visual text from someone who clearly relates to and celebrates, as he himself puts it, “the inherent drama of people who live outside the system.” Let’s hope Mr. Korine never goes fully inside that system.

opens May 9, 2008

Directed by Harmony Korine, written by Harmony and Ari Korine, produced by Nadja Romain, director of photography Marcel Zyskind. Released by IFC Films. Running time: 112 minutes.
With: Diego Luna (Michael Jackson), Samantha Morton (Marilyn Monroe), Denis Lavant (Charlie Chaplin), James Fox (The Pope), Melita Morgan(Madonna), Anita Pallen-berg(The Queen), Camille De Pazzis (Nun), Werner Herzog (Father Umbrillo) and David Blaine (Priest 2.)