The Brown Bunny

Say what you will about Vincent Gallo and/or his films, but after viewing The Brown Bunny a few times now, I'm thoroughly convinced that he's one of the most underrated filmmakers around today.

Yes, the film does contain an infamous and much-ballyhooed fellatio scene between Mr. Gallo and Chloe Sevigny at the film's, um, climax, which goes on for a good 5 minutes or so before he totally nuts in her mouth. And yes, the blowjob is for real, folks. But while a great many people felt this scene in particular to be unnecessarily gratuitous, I was not among them.

For one thing, when I'm watching a film, I always try and give the director the benefit of the doubt, at least in terms of where my suspension of disbelief is concerned, wherever and whenever possible. Taken out of context, yes, the scene is rather unsettling in and of itself, but within the context of the entire film, I simply viewed it as part of the story. Nothing more.

Being a lover of the medium of film, there is nothing I love more than really well-crafted cinematography. I love watching a film made by a director who really knows how to use a camera to frame a really amazing shot. And for me, the scene that most exemplifies this comes about halfway through the film.

During his cross-country trek, the film's protagonist, Bud Clay (portrayed by Gallo), stops at the Bonneville Salt Flats to ride his motorcycle. A very simple shot done in a single take, with the depth perception on the camera lens completely flattened out and compressed, Bud puts on his helmet, revs the engine and then takes off. And off he goes... on and on and on and on into the distance for what seems like forever, until he is a speck on the mirage-distorted horizon.

I must have rewound this shot 20 times. It is one of the most breathtakingly beautiful sequences I've seen on film in a very long time. No amount of CGI can come close to capturing that kind of raw visual impact, no matter how much you tart it up or how much money you throw at it.

I only wish more filmmakers and studio executives in Hollywood understood this.