Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		4.0
Audio		4.0
Extras		4.0
Overall		3.5

Mister Lonely Blu-ray Movie Review

Building nothing out of something.

Reviewed by Randy Miller III March 20, 2025

Mister Lonely is Harmony Korine's third directorial effort after Gummo and Julien Donkey-Boy, and it's every bit as polarizing as almost everything he's ever done. Korine is, of course, perhaps best known as the writer of Larry Clark's 1995 debut drama Kids and his experimental brand of filmmaking typically focuses on disaffected youths and young adults on the fringes of society. Mister Lonely is no different and follows a Michael Jackson impersonator living in France who struggles with his own identity. He soon discovers kindred spirits and decides to live with them on a commune... but the more "Michael" learns about these people, the more he wants to finally find himself.

Barely squeezing out a living on the streets of Paris, American twenty-something "Michael Jackson" (Diego Luna) basically begs for donations from tourists and passers-by. His most recent meeting with booking agent Renard (Leos Carax) results in a follow-up visit to a nursing home where Michael entertains confused seniors with his act. It's there he happens to meet another impersonator, "Marilyn Monroe" (Samantha Morton), who he later sees on the street and establishes a connection. She's married to "Charlie Chaplin" (Denis Lavant) and they even have a young daughter in "Shirley Temple" (Esmé Creed-Miles), living on a commune in the Scottish Highlands with others who have adopted the personalities of celebrities including The Pope (James Fox), Madonna (Melita Morgan), James Dean (Joseph Morgan), Sammy Davis Jr. (Jason Pennycooke), and even Abraham fuckin' Lincoln (Richard Strange), among others.

Theirs is a loose and spontaneous existence, tending sheep and growing crops while always staying in character. But it's not long before cracks start to form in the group's idyllic façade, including the obvious abuse of Marilyn by her husband, who she says reminds her of Hitler. Even so, the group presses on and seems to be working towards the ultimate goal of putting on an elaborate stage show for curious outsiders to come and see. For various reasons, their planned show and entire way of life does not turn out as they hoped, leaving Michael at yet another dead end.

Speaking of dead ends, a barely-related story is also touched upon between Mister Lonely's four separate "chapters" (each named after a Michael Jackson song) that follows Father Umbrillo (Werner Herzog) and a group of nuns, who he convinces to jump out of a moving plane to prove their faith in God. Its only real similarly to the main plot is a shared examination of communal life and cult-like behavior, two things that Korine dealt with in his formative years.

Mister Lonely has an admittedly great premise but sadly doesn't do much with it. Even at 112 minutes it'll test viewer patience with random, overly long interactions and missed opportunities to really explore its subject matter; this should be plenty of time to flesh out the story with deeper meaning, but no real attempt is made to even get under the skin of its main character (pun intended). A few memorable moments occur -- mostly due to the creative juxtaposition of its "historical figures", normally separated by decades or even centuries, that are allowed to meet in this timeline -- but the wide majority of its story (co-written by Harmony and his brother Avi) feels like it could have been much more. Great films can build something out of nothing, but sadly Mister Lonely squanders its potential. It's occasionally fascinating and certainly original, but ultimately not all that easy to genuinely care about.

Even so, I'd recommend that interested fans of the director give Mister Lonely a shot... and with that in mind I applaud IFC Films for bringing it to Blu-ray since several of Korine's other earlier efforts, including both Kids and Julien Donkey-Boy, have yet to reach the format. What's more is that this is a very well-rounded disc, offering solid A/V merits and a healthy collection of extras that are worth a run-through whether you end up liking the film or not.

Mister Lonely Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Mister Lonely was finished in 2K and shot using a mixture of Super 35 and Super 16, and it's pretty easy to tell those two apart on this decently consistent 1080p transfer made for IFC Films' Blu-ray. The film's colorful cinematography, befitting of its characters, was shot by Danish DP Marcel Zyskind whose recent credits include The Dead Don't Hurt and As In Heaven; it offers a fitting mixture of documentary-like realism and dreamlike imagery depending on the subject matter. These visuals translate well to the small screen and IFC's Blu-ray plays without any major hitches, showcasing good color representation and solid image detail on a dual-layered disc that only exhibits occasional amounts of macro blocking and posterization. (Black crush also pops up on a few occasions, but this seems to be more of an intentional stylistic choice.) Needless to say, it's overall a nicely satisfying presentation that fans will appreciate.

Mister Lonely Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Truth be told, Mister Lonely is a particularly enveloping film from a sonic standpoint, employing a mostly front-forward presentation on this DTS-HD 5.1 Master Audio mix. Nonetheless, a few surprises arrive along the way via the surround channelsand this typically comes through in natural background ambience as well as during non-diegetic song cues like Bobby Vinton's unforgettable title track and other cuts from Jason "J. Spaceman" Pierce (a multi-instrumentalist and lead singer of the English band Spiritualized) and Sun City Girls, an experimental rock outfit whose drummer, Charles Gocher, incidentally died a few months before Mister Lonely was released, effectively ending the group after more than 25 years together. In any case, much like the visuals it's a solid sonic effort that gets the job done.

Optional English (SDH) subtitles are offered during the film only.

Mister Lonely Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

This one-disc release ships in a clear keepcase with eye-catching cover artwork, an interior print, and a nice 20-page booklet featuring the essay "Stardom and Transcendence in Harmony Korine's Mister Lonely" by Kyle Turner, photos, and disc credits. The on-disc extras are surprisingly solid too, giving this disc quite a bit of added value for fans.

• Audio Commentary - Canadian filmmaker Jay Cheel (How to Build a Time Machine) contributes this recent commentary track, offering overwhelming praise and dissection of Mister Lonely's themes and visuals as a long-time fan of Korine's. There's obviously some love for Werner Herzog in there too but, while his enthusiasm is certainly a bit contagious, these types of extras are usually better filled by first-hand participants.

• Deleted Scenes (36:46) - Likely the most interesting extra on here for die-hard fans (and one of two items returning from IFC Films' 2008 DVD, this collection of deleted and extended scenes contains a mixture of trimmed bits and pieces as well as a few stand-alone sequences that make it worth looking through.

• Video Essay (17:15) - Subtitled "A Director Under the Influence", this new appreciation by film historian Samm Deighan discusses Korine's French New Wave influences, Werner Herzog, and his earlier films.

• Making-Of Featurette (11:58) - Like the deleted scenes, this DVD-era relic is nonetheless a fascinating one and includes comments from Korine about his early life and thematic approach to the film including its use of celebrity impersonators. Footage from the set is also glimpsed along the way.

• Theatrical Trailer (1:47) - Sadly, this vintage promotional piece is better than the actual film.

Mister Lonely Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Only Harmony Korine's third directorial effort in 10 years, Mister Lonely is an original but ultimately self-indulgent film that may be hard for outsiders to appreciate (myself included). While I obviously can't count myself among its fans, IFC Films has put together a very nice Blu-ray package that easily eclipses their 2008 DVD edition with stronger A/V merits and even more bonus features, most of which are worth a watch even if you don't end up liking the film.