Here’s a nice surprise. Instead of an album that just collects existing songs from the movie, the Mister Lonely: Original Soundtrack disc actually features the original score material in the film composed by Spiritualized’s Jason Spaceman and Phoenix-based experimental outfit Sun City Girls (as previously reported). The 20-track disc is due April 22 on Drag City.
Not that the pre-existing songs were bad, in fact those songs – tracks by Aphex Twin, Spank Rock, A Silver. Mt Zion, Bobby Vinton, John Jacob Niles and more – would make a great disc, but it appears a score album is all that’s on the horizon for now.
Directed by indie wunderkind Harmony Korine, the wonderfully absurdist, but earnest “Mister Lonely” stars Diego Luna as a Michael Jackson impersonator who meets Marilyn Monroe impersonator Samantha Morton in Paris and the two travel to a “magical land” that acts as a home to Charlie Chaplin, James Dean and many other impersonators by actors unknown and well-known (the latter includes the great Anita Pallenberg and James Fox – somone’s been watching “Performance“). The film also includes appearances by Korine’s pal, German director Werner Herzog , ghey magician David Blane and his wife, Rachel Korine as Little Red Riding Hood.
‘Lonely’ is a nice comeback for Korine who’s been missing in action for about eight years. There’s also lot of great musical moments in “Mister Lonely” including a sublime skydiving nun scene set to Aphex Twin’s “Btoum-Roumada” (from disc 2 of Drukqs) that is absolutely stunning. The scene (below) where Michael Jackson (Luna) entertains old folks in an retirement home to Spank Rock is pretty hilariously amazing too.
Where did Korine go? Well, as we documented last time, a lot of his time was spent on small art projects and drugs addiction. In a March issue Paper magazine article (not online), Korine went into semi-detail of his “lost weekend” period admitting that two house fires slowed down his work – he spent $11,000 trying to rescue a finished screenplay from his burnt-to-a-crisp laptop that he called a “masterpiece,” but failed to recover anything more than a sentence. Korine alluded to the latter house fire being the result of an accident while passed out on drugs.
According to IFC films “Mister Lonely” comes out May 2, though the original date was April 30.
Mister Lonely OST: tracklist
01 “Michael’s Opening” (dialogue)
02 Jason Spaceman: “Blues 1”
03 Jason Spaceman: “Blues 2 (Intro)”
04 Sun City Girls: “3D Girls”
05 Jason Spaceman: “Panama 1”
06 Sun City Girls: “Spook”
07 Jason Spaceman: “Garden Walk”
08 Sun City Girls: “Steppe Spiritual”
09 Jason Spaceman: “Pope in the Bath”
10 “Nun’s Prayer” (dialogue)
11 Sun City Girls: “Mr. Lonely Viola”
12 Sun City Girls: “Beryl Scepter”
13 “Red Riding Hood’s Hangman” (dialogue)
14 Jason Spaceman: “Stooges Harmonica”
15 “Father Umbrillo’s Broken Nation”
16 Jason Spaceman: “Musicbox Underwater”
17 Sun City Girls: “Circus Theme”
18 Sun City Girls: “Vine Street Piano”
19 Jason Spaceman: “Paris Beach”
20 Sun City Girls: “Farewell”
Download: Aphex Twin – “Btoum-Roumada”
Download: John Jacob Niles – “The Maid Freed From The Gallows”
Download: A Silver Mount Zion – “13 Angels Standing Guard ‘Round the Side of Your Bed”
Download: Spank Rock – “Backyard Betty”
Watch/Listen: Spriritualized – “Ladies & Gentleman We Are Floating In Space”
Watch: “Mister Lonely” trailer
Watch: Scene from “Mister Lonely” featuring Spank Rock
