Review of The Brown Bunny (2003) by Aaron T — 21 Dec 2007

Second cinematic offer from Vincent Gallo is completely different from his brilliant debut "Buffalo '66". Heavily inspired on aesthetic level by Pasolini's work, Bud Clay's trip through US can be viewed simply as a boring and pointless one or as a journey into damaged, tortured mind which - at the climax - results in a powerful controntation of resentment and bitterness.

Because even if we could project our lovers to coming back to life so we could confront our frustration and guilt with them, even humiliate them by putting our cocks into their mouths, where does that leave us? At the state of relief? At the state of comfort, acceptance? Or maybe after all's said and done this whole trip will start again, as if actually nothing happend, and pain will remain the same? At the end, when we see Bud Clay, we're not sure and Gallo was wise not to give us one direction.

Some call Brown Bunny a pretensious, self-indulgent pseudo-arthouse thing of wannabe-artist etc., but I admire Gallo's uncompromising approach to the subject and creating perfectly a small isolated world which goes from one city to another, full of quiet desperation.

It's a journey I want to go back to from time to time.