The Brown Bunny (2003)

User Rating:

4.9/10   

Director:

Vincent Gallo

Writer:

Vincent Gallo (written by)

Release Date:

14 November 2003 (Austria)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Professional motorcycle racer Bud Clay heads from New Hampshire to California to race again. Along the way he meets various needy women who provide him with the cure to his own loneliness, but only a certain woman from his past will truly satisfy him.

Plot Keywords:

Love | Motorcycle | New Hampshire | California | Loneliness

Awards:

1 win & 2 nominations

Cast

Vincent Gallo	...	Bud Clay
Chloë Sevigny	...	Daisy
Cheryl Tiegs	...	Lilly
Elizabeth Blake	...	Rose
Anna Vareschi	...	Violet
Mary Morasky	...	Mrs. Lemon
Jeffrey Wood	...	Featured Racer
Eric Wood	...	Featured Racer
Michael Martire	...	Featured Racer
Rick Doucette	...	Featured Racer
Jim Lester	...	Featured Racer
Michael Niksa	...	Featured Racer

Also Known As:

Brown Bunny (Brazil) [pt]
The Brown Bunny (Greece) [el]
The Brown Bunny (Italy) (DVD title) [it]

Runtime:

93 min | Canada:90 min (Toronto International Film Festival) | France:119 min (Cannes Film Festival)

Country:

USA | Japan | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.66 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Germany:16 | Ireland:18 | Switzerland:16 (canton of Zurich) | New Zealand:R18 | Canada:18+ (Quebec) (DVD rating) | Canada:R (Manitoba/Ontario) (DVD rating) | Italy:VM18 | Brazil:18 | Finland:K-18 | France:-16 | Portugal:M/18 | Switzerland:18 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:18 (canton of Vaud) | USA:Not Rated | Sweden:15 | Australia:R | UK:18

Filming Locations:

Best Western Inn - 6141 Franklin Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Kinetique

Trivia:

Roger Ebert called the film "the worst in the history of Cannes," to which Vincent Gallo responded that Ebert was a "fat pig with the physique of a slave trader." Ebert paraphrased a remark of Winston Churchill and responded that "Although I am fat, one day I will be thin, but Mr. Gallo will still have been the director of 'The Brown Bunny.'" Gallo then put a hex on Ebert's colon, to which Ebert responded that "even my colonoscopy was more entertaining than his film." (It should be noted that the version screened at Cannes was much longer than the final version.)

Goofs:

Continuity: In the first shot that clearly shows Lilly at the rest area, she uncrosses her legs & then re-crosses them, right-over-left. In the next shot they are left-over-right, then another cut shows them right-over-left again.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[Bud walks up to a young woman, working behind the counter in a gas station store]
Bud Clay: Hi.
Violet: Hello... Did you just come from the race track?
Bud Clay: Mmhm.
Violet: Did you win?
Bud Clay: No.
Violet: Oh.
Bud Clay: How much is this?
Violet: $2... Will you be racing again?
[...]

Movie Connections:

References The Sixth Sense (1999)

Soundtrack:

Smooth

Incredibly Awful

Maybe the worst movie I've ever seen. Completely misguided and self-indulgent, it has none of the redeeming qualities of other very bad movies: it's neither campy or unintentionally hilarious. This film is the very definition of tedious, pretentious crap.

I rented it solely for my own prurient curiosity about the infamous Chloë Sevigny blow job scene, so maybe I got what I deserved. The seemingly endless, blurry shots of the side of Vincent Gallo's head as he drives his van across country were excruciating. And "Bud's" damaged, yet sensitive, attitude toward women was like a 13 year-old boy's wet dream. The formulaic device of giving all the female characters flower names was especially contrived and annoying.

It seems as if the entire purpose of this movie was to show that Gallo knows how to ride a motorcycle and has a larger than average cock. I thought "Buffalo '66" was a sweet and engaging comedy, so "Brown Bunny" was a real disappointment. See this movie only if you want to subject yourself to the absolute worst in contemporary, art film-making.