Rent Mister Lonely (2007)

Moonwalking to Nowhere: An Oddball Identity Parade - Mister Lonely review by griggs

A Michael Jackson impersonator drifts through Paris until he’s whisked away to a commune of lookalikes in the Scottish Highlands—Marilyn Monroe, the Pope, Abe Lincoln—all chasing a fantasy of being someone else. It’s an offbeat premise that Mister Lonely embraces with a strange, disarming sincerity.

Harmony Korine assembles an eclectic cast: Denis Lavant’s wiry, restless physicality steals scenes; Samantha Morton lends Monroe and tender, bruised warmth; James Fox and Diego Luna bring quiet depth; and Werner Herzog adn Leos Carax pop up with sly, surreal presence. The film ambles rather than races, letting its eccentric characters breathe in a way that's often as touching as it is absurd.

The skydiving nuns subplot—led with deadpan conviction by Herzog—somehow complements the main story's musings on identity and belonging. Visually soft and dreamlike, it's a film that drifts between whimsy and melancholy, never in a hurry, and all the more beguiling for it.