Bruno
January 14th 2011 00:28
:
Reviewed by David Jobling
Bruno
Sacha Baron Cohen
I did not see Bruno in preview or theatrical release; I wanted to, but simply did not get around to doing it. It has been some time since the 2 Disc Un-Cut Edition was released, and I have thought about watching it many times, but the little I have read about it upon release the more I have wondered if I would enjoy it, and consequently favoured viewing films I am pretty sure I want to see. I remember there was quite a lot of protest from the Gay community around Bruno, but I am not certain what it was all about.
Just a few nights ago I was watching television and Borat came on. I laughed out loud again and again, again. I find Borat is very amusing and so do my various friends from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal etc. Borat is a great film for people learning Australian English, because it is so damn funny, and the joke is always very clear in my experience.
I am a foster father to half a dozen young men between the ages of 19 and 31, so that's the range of experience I am reflecting on. For them, Borat is funny. We all laugh because his mistakes are very easy to make when you don't own the language, and plenty of us have had moments like those that Borat has.
I finally sat down to watch Bruno on DVD; the restricted release not shown in Australian cinemas according to the cover. I find myself ignorant as to what was seen in the Australian release cut and what was not seen, but I have a fair idea, now that I have seen the uncut version.
I doubt the full frontal talking penis had the exposure originally intended.
The first viewing, alone, no commentary, just the uncensored cut, did make me laugh a little here and there. I did not warm to Bruno the character in the same way I instantly warmed to, or related to, Borat.
I always loved Cohen as Ali G, so I was ready to find Bruno engaging, and to a degree I did, however I had trouble appreciating the accent. It is an unfamiliar accent to my ear (Austrian) and has the combined sounds of an English accent and a German one in an unusual mix, so I found it was a little difficult to glean much detail at first.
Scenes between Bruno and his pygmy lover which are as silly as anything you would find in an Austen Powers film (It's called pantomime, it's groovy baby) or a Monty Python film, left me astonished, even gob-smacked at times. I love radical humour; it is definitely one of my favourite things. Brashness and slapstick really appeals to me if it is well done and well meaning. These gay sex scenes were hilariously funny, but also outrageously bold. To an extent that someone such as me who has been censored in the press for outrageously bold prose was delightedly gob-smacked. I did not laugh so much as stare and remind myself to keep breathing. In the back of my mind I am thinking about the lines drawn by the censor. Simulated sex is one thing, inserting something into someone's rear end crosses a line I think, so maybe some of these moments were not seen in Australia...
As the story of Bruno continued I grew to understand him and started to admire his tenacity. I could not agree with his logic, but I recognised it. I understood what he was saying clearly, not just what he was saying, but why he was doing what he was doing. Bruno spends most of the film trying to return his life to the status quo he knows and loves after his reputation and career takes a tumble. I could relate to that, but I definitely felt dubious pangs as I watched this film the first time around.
I wondered why I had this feeling, and then, thinking about it, I felt some suspicion to the motives, the thinking around the film. What was Sacha Baron Cohen actually trying to say to me? What was the shared, universal joke here, and was I basically the butt of it? I am a person who identifies as Queer, so... I wonder about what he is thinking.
As a person who uses language and relates with people who are learning English as a second language while resettling as refugees in Australia, I found Borat funny because of the great truths he revealed. The sense that innocence is easily misunderstood for ill intent, and that there are fine lines between tolerance and acceptance, and communication is a fine art... Borat gave me these things very clearly. On the other hand Bruno puzzled me. I do not really know anyone like Bruno. I do know people who have elements of his character, brash, selfish, superficial, narcissistic, but they are not necessarily Gay men.
He is much like a male, Austrian version of Absolutely Fabulous' Edina Monsoon, the immaculate conception of a self-styled fashionista/public-relations consultant and business woman penned by Jennifer Saunders.
But what was Sacha Baron Cohen thinking? Had I seen this in a cinema, I may have felt quite bad. Usually I would only see something in preview screenings, so with very few other people and certainly not general public. I rarely see a film in the context of a general public screening. Not because I do not mix with the general public, don't get me wrong here.
I actually feel pleased I saw Bruno this first time alone, through the DVD player in my own place. I didn't stop and start, but if I needed to I could have.
After about ten minutes of thinking time I decided I would watch the DVD again, but this time with the commentary. I resisted the urge to slap in the other DVD that comes in this 2 Disc Un-Cut Edition (Bulging with unseen extras). I am so glad I did this so soon after watching without any commentary.
I often find myself enjoying a good commentary just as much as, if not more than the original film. The commentary sometimes provides a very gracious insight into the process of making the film, and that is where the thinking behind the film is to be found. This does always depend on who is giving the commentary.
This is, in my experience, the first commentary track to stop the film while they tell a story.
I loved it. It is very much like sitting in the room with director Larry Charles and artist Sacha Baron Cohen it could almost be offered as a workshop.
Having the artist explain what is going on brings the overall experience of the film closer to the form of documentary that Michael Moore may have created. There is a close reflective focus of what is actually happening provided by Cohen, and this does provide valuable insight into what the intentions were.
Now, I can watch Bruno and laugh out loud. It is an unusual film, a mockumentary, so I think it does require some extra scrutiny. This DVD release is helpful in terms of putting some genuine depth into the overall package; it is difficult to imagine being satisfied without these added features. Now I understand why there were so many people protesting about the film. To define Borat he was seen to come from a particular place with diversity and culture, but Bruno doesn't come from a place so much as a scene, and we do not get much of a look at that scene before we follow him on his journey. The waters are very shallow, but obviously something must be working well given the industry exists and thrives, so how Bruno fits into the scene is a little too fuzzy from the start. We more or less find him being turned out of the scene to begin with, so his audience, supposing he has had one in order to be where he is, just isn't defined.
It is not that he lacks credibility as a character so much as his context seems to. Where are his people? How did he get to the place he starts from? As an audience I was not certain if I were watching something about Bruno the individual, a human story; or a media phenomenon, a less human story and more of an analysis of the scene he is in. He is part of the fabric of a social construct; maybe 'the media appendage of the fashion industry' best describes it. His sexuality is not really important or is it? Certainly it becomes the focus, but it is actually his values and behaviour that confronts. Is this a Gay sensibility or a fatuous sensibility or both?
I was left astonished and filled with mixed feelings to begin with, because of the remarkable superficiality of the character. His sexuality was amusing. I did not mind his sexuality; I was disturbed by his values. These two elements of his character, his sexuality and his value system did not seem like a good fit somehow. But watching Baron Cohen as Bruno, Norman Gunstan-like (for Australians who will know the Garry MacDonald creation) interview gun merchants about 'blowing their load', and realising they are carrying loaded guns as they speak and probably ready to fire at any moment is horribly frightening as well as hilariously funny. Baron Cohen's approach is certainly circus-like in the extreme; defying death without much of a safety net. In the feature there is no other voice outside of Bruno's telling the story so in many ways I found the story hard to grasp.
Now I really like the film, but not the film so much as the great session to be had watching with the commentary. After going through the material on the extra disc I realise that they had enough material for a short television series, although most of this material may not be suitable for television. The fact they released it as a film is due most likely to the success of Borat, although it would have probably worked if it were a series with commentary so the social experiments playing out could be defined more clearly.
As a mockumentary stand alone release I do not think it works, but with all the added features to go through on DVD, and the context the commentary provides, I like it a lot. I understand more clearly that Sacha Baron Cohen was pushing an envelope and provoking discussion around sexuality as well as fashion and the whole superficiality of the international fashion scene, so ultimately he was pushing buttons about acceptance - what are we willing to accept, what are we blocked from accepting? Where do we draw the line? And since we are using the terminology of we, which line are we behind anyway?
It will be interesting to see if Baron Cohen continues in this direction, or if he starts to focus on more traditional story telling. I admire him as an artist, and am waiting to get some more amusing social satire from him in the future.
Sacha Baron Cohen
I did not see Bruno in preview or theatrical release; I wanted to, but simply did not get around to doing it. It has been some time since the 2 Disc Un-Cut Edition was released, and I have thought about watching it many times, but the little I have read about it upon release the more I have wondered if I would enjoy it, and consequently favoured viewing films I am pretty sure I want to see. I remember there was quite a lot of protest from the Gay community around Bruno, but I am not certain what it was all about.
Just a few nights ago I was watching television and Borat came on. I laughed out loud again and again, again. I find Borat is very amusing and so do my various friends from Afghanistan, Bhutan, Nepal etc. Borat is a great film for people learning Australian English, because it is so damn funny, and the joke is always very clear in my experience.
I am a foster father to half a dozen young men between the ages of 19 and 31, so that's the range of experience I am reflecting on. For them, Borat is funny. We all laugh because his mistakes are very easy to make when you don't own the language, and plenty of us have had moments like those that Borat has.
I finally sat down to watch Bruno on DVD; the restricted release not shown in Australian cinemas according to the cover. I find myself ignorant as to what was seen in the Australian release cut and what was not seen, but I have a fair idea, now that I have seen the uncut version.
I doubt the full frontal talking penis had the exposure originally intended.
The first viewing, alone, no commentary, just the uncensored cut, did make me laugh a little here and there. I did not warm to Bruno the character in the same way I instantly warmed to, or related to, Borat.
I always loved Cohen as Ali G, so I was ready to find Bruno engaging, and to a degree I did, however I had trouble appreciating the accent. It is an unfamiliar accent to my ear (Austrian) and has the combined sounds of an English accent and a German one in an unusual mix, so I found it was a little difficult to glean much detail at first.
Scenes between Bruno and his pygmy lover which are as silly as anything you would find in an Austen Powers film (It's called pantomime, it's groovy baby) or a Monty Python film, left me astonished, even gob-smacked at times. I love radical humour; it is definitely one of my favourite things. Brashness and slapstick really appeals to me if it is well done and well meaning. These gay sex scenes were hilariously funny, but also outrageously bold. To an extent that someone such as me who has been censored in the press for outrageously bold prose was delightedly gob-smacked. I did not laugh so much as stare and remind myself to keep breathing. In the back of my mind I am thinking about the lines drawn by the censor. Simulated sex is one thing, inserting something into someone's rear end crosses a line I think, so maybe some of these moments were not seen in Australia...
As the story of Bruno continued I grew to understand him and started to admire his tenacity. I could not agree with his logic, but I recognised it. I understood what he was saying clearly, not just what he was saying, but why he was doing what he was doing. Bruno spends most of the film trying to return his life to the status quo he knows and loves after his reputation and career takes a tumble. I could relate to that, but I definitely felt dubious pangs as I watched this film the first time around.
I wondered why I had this feeling, and then, thinking about it, I felt some suspicion to the motives, the thinking around the film. What was Sacha Baron Cohen actually trying to say to me? What was the shared, universal joke here, and was I basically the butt of it? I am a person who identifies as Queer, so... I wonder about what he is thinking.
As a person who uses language and relates with people who are learning English as a second language while resettling as refugees in Australia, I found Borat funny because of the great truths he revealed. The sense that innocence is easily misunderstood for ill intent, and that there are fine lines between tolerance and acceptance, and communication is a fine art... Borat gave me these things very clearly. On the other hand Bruno puzzled me. I do not really know anyone like Bruno. I do know people who have elements of his character, brash, selfish, superficial, narcissistic, but they are not necessarily Gay men.
He is much like a male, Austrian version of Absolutely Fabulous' Edina Monsoon, the immaculate conception of a self-styled fashionista/public-relations consultant and business woman penned by Jennifer Saunders.
But what was Sacha Baron Cohen thinking? Had I seen this in a cinema, I may have felt quite bad. Usually I would only see something in preview screenings, so with very few other people and certainly not general public. I rarely see a film in the context of a general public screening. Not because I do not mix with the general public, don't get me wrong here.
I actually feel pleased I saw Bruno this first time alone, through the DVD player in my own place. I didn't stop and start, but if I needed to I could have.
After about ten minutes of thinking time I decided I would watch the DVD again, but this time with the commentary. I resisted the urge to slap in the other DVD that comes in this 2 Disc Un-Cut Edition (Bulging with unseen extras). I am so glad I did this so soon after watching without any commentary.
I often find myself enjoying a good commentary just as much as, if not more than the original film. The commentary sometimes provides a very gracious insight into the process of making the film, and that is where the thinking behind the film is to be found. This does always depend on who is giving the commentary.
This is, in my experience, the first commentary track to stop the film while they tell a story.
I loved it. It is very much like sitting in the room with director Larry Charles and artist Sacha Baron Cohen it could almost be offered as a workshop.
Having the artist explain what is going on brings the overall experience of the film closer to the form of documentary that Michael Moore may have created. There is a close reflective focus of what is actually happening provided by Cohen, and this does provide valuable insight into what the intentions were.
Now, I can watch Bruno and laugh out loud. It is an unusual film, a mockumentary, so I think it does require some extra scrutiny. This DVD release is helpful in terms of putting some genuine depth into the overall package; it is difficult to imagine being satisfied without these added features. Now I understand why there were so many people protesting about the film. To define Borat he was seen to come from a particular place with diversity and culture, but Bruno doesn't come from a place so much as a scene, and we do not get much of a look at that scene before we follow him on his journey. The waters are very shallow, but obviously something must be working well given the industry exists and thrives, so how Bruno fits into the scene is a little too fuzzy from the start. We more or less find him being turned out of the scene to begin with, so his audience, supposing he has had one in order to be where he is, just isn't defined.
It is not that he lacks credibility as a character so much as his context seems to. Where are his people? How did he get to the place he starts from? As an audience I was not certain if I were watching something about Bruno the individual, a human story; or a media phenomenon, a less human story and more of an analysis of the scene he is in. He is part of the fabric of a social construct; maybe 'the media appendage of the fashion industry' best describes it. His sexuality is not really important or is it? Certainly it becomes the focus, but it is actually his values and behaviour that confronts. Is this a Gay sensibility or a fatuous sensibility or both?
I was left astonished and filled with mixed feelings to begin with, because of the remarkable superficiality of the character. His sexuality was amusing. I did not mind his sexuality; I was disturbed by his values. These two elements of his character, his sexuality and his value system did not seem like a good fit somehow. But watching Baron Cohen as Bruno, Norman Gunstan-like (for Australians who will know the Garry MacDonald creation) interview gun merchants about 'blowing their load', and realising they are carrying loaded guns as they speak and probably ready to fire at any moment is horribly frightening as well as hilariously funny. Baron Cohen's approach is certainly circus-like in the extreme; defying death without much of a safety net. In the feature there is no other voice outside of Bruno's telling the story so in many ways I found the story hard to grasp.
Now I really like the film, but not the film so much as the great session to be had watching with the commentary. After going through the material on the extra disc I realise that they had enough material for a short television series, although most of this material may not be suitable for television. The fact they released it as a film is due most likely to the success of Borat, although it would have probably worked if it were a series with commentary so the social experiments playing out could be defined more clearly.
As a mockumentary stand alone release I do not think it works, but with all the added features to go through on DVD, and the context the commentary provides, I like it a lot. I understand more clearly that Sacha Baron Cohen was pushing an envelope and provoking discussion around sexuality as well as fashion and the whole superficiality of the international fashion scene, so ultimately he was pushing buttons about acceptance - what are we willing to accept, what are we blocked from accepting? Where do we draw the line? And since we are using the terminology of we, which line are we behind anyway?
It will be interesting to see if Baron Cohen continues in this direction, or if he starts to focus on more traditional story telling. I admire him as an artist, and am waiting to get some more amusing social satire from him in the future.
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