A film Directed by Harmony Korine.
THE VOW OF CHASTITY
"I swear to submit to the following set of rules drawn up and confirmed by DOGME 95: 1. Shooting must be done on location. Props and sets must not be brought in (if a particular prop is necessary for the story, a location must be chosen where this prop is to be found). 2. The sound must never be produced apart from the images or vice versa. (Music must not be used unless it occurs where the scene is being shot). 3. The camera must be hand-held. Any movement or immobility attainable in the hand is permitted. (The film must not take place where the camera is standing; shooting must take place where the film takes place). 4. The film must be in colour. Special lighting is not acceptable. (If there is too little light for exposure the scene must be cut or a single lamp be attached to the camera). 5. Optical work and filters are forbidden. 6. The film must not contain superficial action. (Murders, weapons, etc. must not occur.) 7. Temporal and geographical alienation are forbidden. (That is to say that the film takes place here and now.) 8. Genre movies are not acceptable. 9. The film format must be Academy 35 mm. 10. The director must not be credited.
Furthermore I swear as a director to refrain from personal taste! I am no longer an artist. I swear to refrain from creating a "work", as I regard the instant as more important than the whole. My supreme goal is to force the truth out of my characters and settings. I swear to do so by all the means available and at the cost of any good taste and any aesthetic considerations.
Thus I make my VOW OF CHASTITY."
Copenhagen, Monday 13 March 1995
--On behalf of DOGME 95 Lars von Trier Thomas Vinterberg
Julien Donkey-Boy (1999) is the sixth film to be made under the self-imposed rules of the Dogme 95 manifesto. Directed by Harmony Korine, it is the first non-European film to be made under the Dogme 95 "vow of chastity".
"O, mio babbino caro" plays as a woman skates gracefully. In contrast, little is graceful and daddy is not dear in Julien's world. His father listens to blues wearing a gas mask; dad prods, lectures, and derides Julien as well as Julien's brother and pregnant sister, while grandma attends to her dog. Julien is different, schizophrenic. He wears gold teeth. He bowls, sings, worships, and chats with a group of young adults with disabilities. His sister's child is probably his own. He talks on the phone, imagining it's his mother, who died in childbirth years before. He may be a murderer of children. From his point of view (perhaps), the film follows this odd family for a few weeks."
Writer-director Harmony Korine attempts to show the world through Julien’s eyes: a schizophrenic kaleidoscope of images — some hauntingly beautiful, some disturbing and violent. It was the first American film made in accordance with the Danish filmmaking manifesto Dogme 95. Shot on handheld digital video, the film was transferred to 16mm stock before being blown up to 35mm film for the final print. Korine used this unique method to give the film a low-definition degraded look.
The character played by Werner Herzog tells a story of a soldier, accompanying Pizarro, caught in an ambush, just about to be shot, who sings "Little mother, two by two, wafts the wind on my hair." In Aguirre, der Zorn Gottes (1972), which Herzog directed, a character recites those very lines.
The house in which Julien and his family live is, in reality, the home of Joyce Korine, the director's grandmother, who also plays Julien's grandmother in the film.
This is the first American film to be certified by Dogme '95.
To achieve the film's unique look, the video was transferred onto 8mm stock before being blown up to 35mm using an optical printer.
The decision to make the film under the Dogme '95 conventions was made less than one month before shooting.
Macaulay Culkin, who earlier worked with Harmony Korine on the video for Sonic Youth's "Sunday", turned down a role in the film because he wasn't ready to start acting again.
After seeing Ewen Bremner in Mike Leigh's Naked (1993), Harmony Korine wanted the actor to play the role of Julien's brother, Chris.
The character of Julien is based on Harmony Korine's schizophrenic uncle, Eddie (brother of his father). During preparation for the film, Korine had Ewen Bremner meet his uncle and later listen to audiotapes of him to gain insight into the role.
Harmony Korine originally wanted his uncle to be in the film.
Harmony Korine originally took on the role of Chris. Later, the role was given to Evan Neumann.
Ewen Bremner refused to see his Scottish friends off set for fear that he would break from the American accent required for the role.
Harmony Korine was invited by Dogme 95 co-founder Lars von Trier to Copenhagen to use his post-production facilities, effectively upping his million-dollar budget by about 50%.
For a short while, the film was known as "The Julien Chronicles".
In the film, Julien works as an assistant in a school for the blind
so did Ewen Bremner's father.
Musician Will Oldham has a small uncredited role in the film. He can be seen at the party (Chapter 13. party on the DVD) in the first few seconds, and then again, just before the chapter ends, dancing with Julien (Oldham is clean shaven and wearing a blue jumper with white collar shirt).
After completing a Dogme 95 film, directors must write a confession to their fellow members, explaining the ways in which they have broken the Dogme "Vow of Chastity." In his Confession for this film, Harmony Korine wrote that Chloë Sevigny is not really pregnant in the film; she's wearing a pillow.
The film was shot from a 124-scene treatment of sorts; essentially only general descriptions of scenes ("The sound of hard wind," is all it says for Scene 8. In Scene 58, "Julien's brother tries again in vain to kill the swan."). All the dialogue was improvised by the actors, except for one scene where Julien is talking to his "dead mother" on the telephone.
There originally was a formal screenplay, dialogue and all, but Harmony Korine abandoned this in his attempt to achieve something else.
Chrissy Kobylak, who plays blind ice-skater Chrissy in the film, is in fact a blind ice-skater in real life. Korine discovered her on an episode of "Hard Copy" (1989).
In a number of scenes, including the one where Julien carries a dead fetus onto a public bus, Harmony Korine used hidden "spy cameras" in order to get genuine reactions from unsuspecting onlookers.
All up, the work of thirty different cameras can be seen.
Over the course of this 25-day shoot, Harmony Korine amassed 86 hours of footage, which then had to be cut down by his editor into the final 101-minute film. The first cut, however, was 6-1/2 hours long.
In preparation for his role, Ewen Bremner worked for several months in an institution for the criminally insane in Queens, New York. He had to take courses in first-aid, hygiene ("a half-day course in washing my hands") and crisis management before he was given the job.
On their first date, Larry Clark and 'Tiffany Limos' attended the premiere of the film at Alice Tully Hall.
The turtles that feature in the opening scene were transported to the set in a beer cooler half full of water.
