The Brown Bunny
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Cast: Vincent Gallo, Chloe Sevigny
Extras: Theatrical Trailers
Rating:
The very odd story of a professional motorcycle racer named Bud Clay (Vincent Gallo), who is dealing with the emotions of loosing of a loved one, is headed cross-country, from New Hampshire to California for his next race big, in the bizarre tale "The Brown Bunny". Trying to move on with his life, Clay meets with passing women, either hanging out or looking for a "date" that he talks with, kisses, and then leaves, possibly trying to cure his loneliness in an unusual way. Sounds kind of simple, doesn't it? Well, that's about the whole story of this film summed up! With a rather graphic scene, involving Daisy (Chloe Sevigny) performing oral sex on Bud toward the end, which is rather explicit in nature and a little unnecessary.
I have to admit that after hearing how Cannes Film Festival attendee and longtime critic, Roger Ebert, proclaiming this film to have been "the worst in the history of the festival," made me more than a little curious to see just what all the fuss was about. Since film is considered to be totally subjective, coupled with the curiosity to see just what exactly all the talk is about will easily lead this very uneventful film to a virtual cult status.
Sony Pictures Home Entertainment presents a "Superbit" version of "The Brown Bunny" on DVD that was anything but super. First of all, this film was shot with some scenes containing light-damaged film stock, scenes that were intentionally grainy and out-of-focus and an overall look that did not really work for me at all. The transfer exhibited dust particles throughout with poor color saturation and weak black levels, producing a barely passable presentation. I would really have to question why this film was even considered to sport the "Superbit" label at all.
The dts 5.1 or Dolby Digital 5.0 soundtracks were really not necessary for this presentation, as "The Brown Bunny" has quite a poor sound mix to begin with. Producing scenes that were either so hard to hear that you had to crank up the volume on your receiver, only to have your ears blasted by a loud revving motorcycle in the next scene, the intentionally weak sound mix just contributed to this mess of a film. I never thought I would ever consider a dts soundtrack to be so lame, but I guess there is a first time for everything.
The only available special features are two theatrical trailers for "The Brown Bunny".
For being written, directed and produced by Vincent Gallo, one could argue that he is solely responsible for the end result of this film. Then again, if you think that his work is unconventional yet ground-breaking, you might just admire him for it. Based on what was presented, I couldn't praise or even recommend this film in any way.
