Review

Trainspotting's Bremner is impressive as the titular Julien, a schizophrenic who is quite a burden on his strange family, including Sevigny as a pregnant wanna-be ice skater and Neumann as a reclusive amateur wrestler. Shot on video and grainily transferred to film, this is the first American film to be shot under the auspices of Dogme '95; like its brethren Breaking the Waves and The Celebration (whose cinematographer Julien shares), it's a disturbing slice of a very dysfunctional family life. But without a narrative thread or memorable images, the film is an interminable series of apparently improvised scenes that go nowhere. Korine, the "Werner Herzog of the MTV generation," goes so far as to cast the director as an abusive father in this aggresively experimental film, but alas his skills haven't rubbed off.