The Brown Bunny
(Directed by Vincent Gallo)

“Highway to the Twilight Zone”

Film review by Stephen Cosier

Vincent Gallo has only directed three feature films, but has made some brave steps in those choices, disregarding the typical Hollywood path and doing things his own way. The Brown Bunny is even more personal than the brilliant Buffalo 66. It’s a deceptively simple story about a man making a lonely cross-country trip through America, encountering a few women along the way, and finally meeting the woman he’s been yearning for. Almost a decade on from its infamous Cannes debut, The Brown Bunny still stands as one of the boldest independent American films, and places Vincent Gallo as a true maverick – an artist with a complete vision.

This sparse, moody story is about Bud Clay (Vincent Gallo), a motorcycle racer, who spends a few solitary days crossing America, contemplating a recent life-changing experience. As the journey progresses, we learn that Bud is suffering. Bud has some brief, bizarre encounters along the way. He manages to momentarily seduce a female service station attendant into coming along for the ride; visits the mother of a woman named Daisy (in an awkward Lynchian scene); wanders around a pet shop, seeming intrigued by the little bunnies; comforts a distraught Cheryl Tiegs at a rest stop; and cruises the back streets of Las Vegas, before finally arriving in LA to meet Daisy (Chloe Sevigny).

Vincent Gallo has made a slight detour with this road film. He has stripped it down to the bare essentials. The context of the story is only revealed in the final scenes, leaving the audience with an ambiguous study of one man’s behaviour. Gallo has proudly claimed his original approach to movie making, but in one interview, he did admit that Bobby Deerfield was a tonal inspiration for The Brown Bunny. I found that the film covered some of the same emotional terrain as past classics, such as Last Tango in Paris, Solaris, and Paris Texas – with a dose of The Twilight Zone sprinkled on top. The use of the song, “Come Wander With Me”, was also the name of a Twilight Zone episode, where the song is hauntingly sung by a doomed lover. Like those past tragic figures, Gallo has created another portrait of a lost soul, navigating his way through grief, guilt, and isolation. The Brown Bunny is a morality play, showing the consequences of a neglectful relationship.

The film was shot on 16mm, giving a nostalgic glow to the beauty of the American landscape. There are spacious takes, focusing on the nuances of Bud’s solitary trip. The journey is from Bud’s subjective point of view, giving the audience a front seat ride. Bud is often in close-up and askew in the frame. The elliptical nature of the editing, chops the backstory fat away, adding to the sense of mystery. Part of the fun of a first viewing, is in trying to work out what this guy’s problem is. Gallo uses repetition as a device to explore Bud’s grief and his compulsions. The sound editing and the use of silence creates an impression of time standing still and memories washing over Bud’s conscience.

The small cast give brief performances, with minimal interactions and no real connections being made. Gallo is a ghost of the character he played in Buffalo 66. He is still a loner, but this time the charisma and bravado has been stripped away. Only the sadness remains. Gallo used non-professionals to play some of the brief roles, and even applied a candid approach in some scenes, filming the “actors” when they were unaware, giving a documentary feel to the scenes. Chloe Sevigny’s performance is both brave and complex, playing a sweet young woman, who is troubled by an addiction. The characters in this film all seem lost and confused. There are lonely hearts full of sorrow at every stop on this road trip.

After multiple viewings, there is still a certain mystery surrounding this sad story. There is no certainty that our narrator’s mind can be fully trusted. It could be possible that Bud is experiencing the fresh stages of raw grief, but he could also be deep in the madness of a downward spiral, reliving those fateful moments over and over, like a Mobius strip. Bud’s mind seems stuck in a loop, unable to escape his compulsions. Bud has a lot of time to reflect on his problems, but by the time he reaches LA, they have only manifested, and finally he has to confront them. . Maybe the infamous climactic scene was seared onto the retina by Gallo to shock the audience, the same way Bud was shocked when he witnessed his life changing moment – to take us deep into the despair that was born in that instant. He certainly shows the paradox of those sensations, and the fine line between ecstasy and disgust.

Vincent Gallo is a maverick amongst American filmmakers, bold enough to trust his vision completely. He is not afraid to display the vulnerability and insecurities of men, rarely shown onscreen. The Brown Bunny is a sincere and heartbreaking film, and worthy of revisiting. New layers of meaning are revealed, with each hypnotic viewing. It’s a rare and great movie. At the end, there does seem to be some resolution for Bud Clay. I just hope he kept driving and didn’t glance into his rearview mirror.