Nothing cute about Gallo’s ‘Bunny’

JOHN DEPKO

Extremely strange and depressing at every turn, “The Brown Bunny”

seems to target the mentally ill already on Prozac. If you are

yearning to feel completely isolated, hopeless and out of touch with

any semblance of reality, this movie is for you.

Vincent Gallo is the self-absorbed writer, producer, director and

star of this narcissistic tribute to himself. He is the only human

that matters in this painfully boring road trip across America in

search of lost love. The monotonous highways and bug-splattered

windshields have so much screen time, they seem to be major

characters in this meaningless story. Shooting most of the scenes

without music makes them even more stark and awkward in every

imaginable way.

During this tedious trip, pathetic women slowly materialize and

then quickly disappear after brief encounters without purpose or

meaning. Their insignificant lives are on display for only one

reason: to underline the importance of the psychological desperation

of the egomaniac who stars in this picture.

This controversial entry to the Cannes Film Festival has become

infamous for the very explicit sex scene at the end of Vincent’s

journey (No one under 18 admitted!). Chloe Sevigny made a risky

career choice, playing the poor lost soul who takes part in this

X-rated interlude. This scene has its own merits and one unusual

twist, but getting to that point in the movie is unbearable. You’ll

want to walk out long before the agonizing 90-minute prelude has run

its very uncomfortable course.

* JOHN DEPKO is a Costa Mesa resident and a senior investigator

for the Orange County public defender’s office.

All ‘Fair’ in Nair translation of novel

In “Vanity Fair,” we have gorgeous visuals but a rather lackluster

treatment of the classic William Makepeace Thackeray novel of social

satire and greedy ambition.

It was certainly ambitious of director Mira Nair and screenwriters

to try to cram so many of the characters and subplots into a film

that, at 137 minutes, still feels much too long. It would have been

better served to include more of the book’s juicy comedy of manners

rather than the Jane Austen-like, gooey romance.

Becky Sharp is quite a radical character for her day -- a

beautiful, sharp-tongued, amazingly resourceful woman with no fortune

or pedigree who is not “merely a social climber, but ... a

mountaineer.” Instead of a genuine heart, she has an uncanny knack

for manipulating people, whether to gain an aristocratic husband or a

ticket into the fringes of society. She has no qualms of conscience

about using people, even her own son, to get what she wants. This

also leads to her eventual downfall.

This film takes place some years earlier than the novel, during

the Napoleonic wars. It lends a more romantic tone to the film in

terms of impossibly lush costumes, undoubtedly influenced by Nair’s

Indian roots. Anyone who saw her “Monsoon Wedding” will once again

recognize her visual style. If nothing else, “Vanity Fair” is certain

to garner Oscar nominations for its costumes, sets and art direction.

As played by Reese Witherspoon, this is a kinder, gentler Becky

Sharp than I recall from the novel. Her edges have been softened by

the casting of a popular rising star, perhaps reluctant to play an

unsympathetic lead, and by today’s standards -- where self-serving

greed and unscrupulous conduct have come to be expected qualities.

In essence, Witherspoon plays a variation on her character in

“Legally Blonde,” only with a British accent and prettier outfits.

The surrounding cast is good, although many of the parts are

one-dimensional. Exceptions are Bob Hoskins as the ratty-haired Sir

Pitt Crawley and Eileen Atkins as his wealthy sister Matilda, who

dotes on Becky until she marries her favorite nephew. When they are

on screen, we get brief but lively glimpses of what this movie might

have been.

* SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant

for a financial services company.