Lonely Are the Brave

But letting a movie keep its intimations of chaos—letting a scene meander in search of a tone, letting an image last beyond its expected end, repeating scenes or business as if they were incantations, allowing digressions for their own sake—sometimes yields moments of surprise and wonder that might otherwise hit the cutting-room floor. The movie’s opening shot, for example, or Gummo’s magical little scene of kids smooching in a rainswept above-ground pool—this unmoored imagery has a lingering plaintiveness not even its maker may be able to explain. Movies tell the same stories over and over, but I know of only one that evokes mourned innocence in just a three-minute shot of a clown bike. Harmony Korine may be finding his gift as the ringmaster of these barbed, indelible images. But as the nuns’ haunting finale shows, embracing your talent is no guarantee of a happy ending.

Harmony Korine will appear at the 7:30 p.m. show May 16 at The Belcourt. Tickets are $12 and available at the box office.