"Julien Donkey-Boy" is an occasionally emotional, mainly tedious foray
into the art of Dogme 95, laden with grainy visuals and non-existent
plotting. It recalls the much better film "Buddy Boy," which came out
the same year. "Buddy Boy" director Mark Hanlon knew how to engage your
interest and make you care about his main character, despite his
shortcomings.Julien is a 20-something paranoid schizophrenic played by Ewen Bremner, one of the most underutilized character actors of today. Julien lives with his equally disturbed father, younger brother, and sister, who he has impregnated before the film's beginning.
Uncomfortable yet? The whole movie works to make the viewer feel discomfort while also invoking sadness and emotion. At this it is only moderately successful. The dialogue is often random and directionless. The experience of the film is akin to having hundreds of puzzle pieces of differing shapes and sizes, none of them fitting together in the least.
