21.5.04

A Hop,Skip, and a Jump-Cut Gets Vincent Gallo Distribution


Everyone pretty much agreed last year's Cannes Festival stank like a chunk of Brie left out in the sun on the Riviera. Evidence of this was that the biggest story to come out of the fiasco surrounded Vincent Gallo and his disastrous film, "The Brown Bunny",starring himself and Chloe Sevigny.

After, and often during viewings, audiences railed against the atrocity on film, and the usually unhinged Gallo was especially charged up as a result.

He raged that the film wasn't finished yet (begging the question "Why submit it then?"--or better yet, "Why accept it in the festival then?")The best result of the whole affair was a protracted feud that evolved between Gallo and Roger Ebert,(shown here doing his best Tom Wolfe impression on the Croisette.) Many people here in the States expressed regret that they would miss out on this event--people like myself who delight in viewing a cinematic train wreck. Then something happened.

Gallo brought his rotten-tailed film to the Toronto FF and the trimmed down version received--well, a different response. Phrases like "It provoked only mild backlash" and, "It received a far less incendiary reception and reaction" were regarded as raves. But those of us hoping to see it deflated slightly at the idea of a reworked and watchable version. Now word is out that independent distributor Wellspring will bring it into theaters this fall with a home release slated for next year. We can only hope they are brave enough to provide the original cut among the DVD extras. Vincent I'm sure will nix that idea, however.

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