Julien Donkey-Boy
Independent Pictures (III) | Release Date: October 15, 1999 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
54
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 23 Critic Reviews
Positive:
11
Mixed:
8
Negative:
4
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
90
Film.comPeter Brunette
Not a film for everyone. And though I deeply admire it, it's not a film that even I want to see again in the immediate future. Read full review
88
San Francisco ExaminerWesley Morris
Feels like it could go blow up at any time. It implodes instead, and the meltdown, though visible in one of the final sequences, is still corrosive. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyLisa Schwarzbaum
Korine remains unnecessarily smitten with sordidness, and there's plenty of it here. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderLisa Alspector
The movie is truly an open text--its generous poetry inspires free association rather than predictable emotion. Read full review
80
Dallas ObserverLuke Y. Thompson
Undeniably interesting, but not entirely successful. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesKevin Thomas
A film of piercing beauty and pain. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
It seems at first to be merely a jumble of discordant images ("Freaks" shot by the "Blair Witch" crew) but then, if you stay with it, the pattern emerges from the jumble. Read full review
75
Christian Science MonitorDavid Sterritt
Korine confirms his reputation as one of today's most experimentally minded filmmakers, helped by an inventive cast including German director Herzog in a surprisingly strong performance as the father. Read full review
70
L.A. WeeklyJohn Patterson
Looks like no other recent release...certainly rich enough to warrant more than one viewing. Read full review
63
New York Daily NewsJack Mathews
I'd never seen anything like it, and can say that I hope to never see anything like it again. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeJay Carr
At its best, it will impale you on its raw urgency. At other times, it's a slog through long improvisations that never achieve dramatic liftoff. Read full review
60
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The stranger and more unusual the characters, and the less they're explained, the better. Read full review
58
Seattle Post-IntelligencerPaula Nechak
Often unsettlingly funny, though it ultimately recedes into a dark womb of despair. Read full review
55
Mr. ShowbizKevin Maynard
Writer-director Harmony Korine seems more interested in churning your stomach than in warming your heart. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldRene Rodriguez
In his quest to capture truth and honesty, (Korine) has made a movie that is practically impossible to like. Read full review
40
SalonAna Marie Cox
The filmmaker brings the audience to a precipice of discomfort, implying that the discomfort is itself the point. Read full review
40
Film.comErnest Hardy
Rung with numb inarticulateness. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Julien may be a donkey-boy but it's Harmony Korine, this film's director, who is a horse's ass. Read full review
40
The New York TimesJanet Maslin
The territory where the circus sideshow meets the avant-garde...visually arresting, dramatically blurry. Read full review
30
Village VoiceJ. Hoberman
A handheld and grainy exercise in cine-stupefaction...too spastic to connect...the movie just flails the air. Read full review
25
New York PostJonathan Foreman
Sucker bait for the sort of credulous cinast who'll buy anything ugly and boring that looks like it's avant-garde...rancid stew of cheap shocks, sleaze and phony artiness. Read full review
25
San Francisco ChronicleEdward Guthmann
A self-indulgent mess. Read full review
20
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
Juvenile and pointless. Read full review
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