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| In the Realms of the Unreal - The Mystery of Henry Darger | 
 enlarge | Director: Jessica Yu
Actors: Henry Darger, Dakota Fanning, Larry Pine, Frier Mccollister, Wally Wingert
Studio: Fox Lorber
Category: DVD
List Price: $19.95
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (36 reviews)
Sales Rank: 16371
Format: Color, Dolby, Dvd-video, Widescreen, Ntsc
Language: English (Original Language)
Rating: Unrated
Media: DVD
Running Time: 81 minutes
Number Of Items: 1
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
MPN: FLVD5458D
ISBN: 0794205755
UPC: 720917545820
EAN: 9780794205751
ASIN: B00094ARX2
Release Date: June 21, 2005
Theatrical Release Date: 2003
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Description
Henry Darger, an elderly recluse, spent his childhood in Illinois's asylum for feeble-minded children and his adulthood working as a janitor. He lived a quiet, nearly solitary existence, but his imaginary life was exciting, colorful and sexually provocative. When he died in Chicago in 1973, his landlady discovered in his room 300 paintings, some over 10 feet long, and a 15,000-page illustrated novel (The Realms of the Unreal), which told the epic story of the virtuous Vivian Girls leading a child slave revolt against the evil Glandelinians. Featuring Dakota Fanning (Hide and Seek) and Larry Pine (The Royal Tenenbaums) as narrators and imaginative animation of Darger's work, Oscar winner Jessica Yu (Breathing Lessons) brings to life one of the twentieth century's greatest self-taught artists.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...
 good movie August 23, 2008
well made and beautiful crafted documentary film on henry darger, really puts you into his work from inside 4 stars!!!
Excellent film, compelling subject June 17, 2008
I'm not going to get as serious as some with my review. I think this film is very well done and artistic in it's own right. However, sometimes I felt like the filmmaker was taking liberties that should not have been taken. At points the narration and animation of Darger's work takes away from the art itself. It is also hard to form an opinion on Darger's work/life/situation when so much of the filmmaking is done to the filmmakers belief.
It is difficult to say this film is anything less than 5 stars, though, because of its beauty and the amount of information it contains. It is worth seeing and owning due to its importance in the mystery of Darger. See this, enjoy it and learn more about the Realms of the Unreal.
Fascinating, But Still Mystery May 23, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Maybe I should confess first that I didn't know the name of Henry Darger before watching this documentary. They say there are many artists inspired by his extraordinary works - a manuscript with more than 15,000 pages, for instance - but sorry, I didn't know his seven "Vivian Girls" fighting the evil, or the illustrations he created for the fantasy story.
But the story of Henry Darger himself is intriguing enough, partly because it is, or seems, so uneventful except his early days. He had lived in a small apartment room in Chicago for 40 years before he died in 1973 and very few people knew him - they are not still sure how to pronounce his surname - and no one knew what he was doing in his room until the landlords stepped in after his death to find the manuscript and hundreds of drawings. The life of Henry Darger himself is a mystery. Not a mystery of which answer everyone wants to know, yes, I know, but still interesting for me as a portrait of a lonely man. Or was he?
Unfortunately, the documentary directed by Jessica Yu doesn't answer the question as to what kind of person Henry Darger was. The people around him are interviewed, but what they reveal is not particularly amazing or illuminating. It was a long time ago after all and any details of episodes, if any, have been irrevocably lost (there are only three known photos of Henry Darger).
Probably this is why the director decided to use an unconventional method to introduce the world of the elusive artist's imagination. Henry Darger's pictures are made into Terry Gilliam-style animation with the voice of Dakota Fanning. While some would say it is a brilliant way to introduce the creativity of the artist, or even the personalities of him, others may disagree saying we should not meddle with the artist's works and life which should be left alone.
I liked the animation part, but if you ask me if "In the Realms of the Unreal" is a success as an attempt on directors' side to re-evaluate the unique works reclusive Henry Darger left behind, I am not sure. Is he a modern-day William Blake? Frankly I don't know. Like any outsider artists it is hard to judge and it takes more time for us to know.
A moving, powerful exploration of one man's remarkable inner world May 4, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I realized while watching this film that I first heard of Henry Darger only a few blocks from where he lived and worshipped. I had taken my daughter to guitar lessons at the former location of the Old Town School of Folk Music, about three blocks south from the address listed as Darger's address on the letter in the film he wrote expressing sorrow over his friend's death. The church at which he worshipped is only a few blocks west of that address. I write this only a few blocks from St. Joseph's Hospital, where Darger worked as a janitor for many years. All of this brings his story home to me in a particularly poignant way. My neighborhood was also his.
Darger is, of course, one of the best known and most celebrated outsider artists, the author of a staggeringly large illustrated novel IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL, about a war between Christian and anti-Christian forces in a make believe land. The most compelling part of Darger's story is that he was completely untrained as an artist and writer and that except for a single friend was a lifelong recluse. His neighbors and the few who knew him elsewhere had no idea that he was the author of a 15,000 page illustrated novel.
The filmmaker made several interesting decisions in making the documentary, all of which I think were done successfully. No critics or experts or outside commentators were employed. All interviews were with people who knew Darger, including the landlady who helped preserve Darger's room after realizing what he had achieved there. There are actors who portray Darger and who read passages from Darger's work, but no art critics. The narration is by the then very young Dakota Fanning, appropriate given Darger's fascination with young girls. More controversially, the director decided to animate many of his images, of which more below.
Anyone viewing this film will get a good sense of what Darger's work is about. There are sadly no books in print summarizing his work or giving good examples of it. The books that have been produced are all out of print. By any measure Darger's story is an amazing one and it deserves to be even more widely known than it is. The film also brings out both Darger's virtues as an artist and his quirks. One of the best examples of the latter is that he may not have had a very good understanding of female anatomy, always drawing nude female figures (as an expression of innocence) with decidedly male genitalia.
Finally, to the reviewers who are outraged that the filmmaker manipulated Darger's paintings to create animated images I can only ask: precisely what is the problem? One reviewer says that this manipulation violates a sacred rule. Where, precisely is that rule articulated? And what could possibly make it sacrosanct? I actually think that the animation of his paintings made them more visually interesting for the medium in which they were being presented. Would I want this in a book of his work? Of course not. But whatever imaginary sins were committed were obscure to me. The manipulation of Darger's images were always deeply respectful and loving. The critics here are acting as if the filmmaker was sinning against Darger instead of affectionately trying to tell his story. They may not like the decision that was made, but there is absolutely nothing inherently wrong in it.
 Insulting to Darger's legacy April 10, 2008
8 out of 18 found this review helpful
Rule number one in art appreciation is that you don't ever, under any circumstances, meddle with an artist's work. You don't change it, or add to it, or try to improve it to meet you own satisfaction or further your own agenda. You leave it exactly as it is so that the intent of the artist can be understood as clearly as possible. With an artist like Henry Darger, who may be impossible to fully understand, it is all-important that we have as clear a picture of him and his work as can be presented. What we don't need is a throng of foolish animators bent on "bringing his art to life." And that's exactly what we have in this ineffective documentary. It makes the mysterious world of the Realms look something like a bad Saturday morning cartoon, or worse, the type of silly cut-out animation popularized on Monty Python's Flying Circus. Add to that the annoying and horribly unfitting narration of Dakota Fanning, and your left with something quite sickening. Is this how Henry would have wanted his art - his realm - presented to the world? Of course not, and to think so is not only arrogant but somewhat insane as well. We hardly get any sense for the composition of his paintings, which was one of his strongest talents. The animators make most of the subjects of Henry's paintings cavort around, while the camera pans, swoops dramatically, and zooms in and out, constantly distorting and changing the perspective. Then the producers have added sound effects, dialog, and music. I guess Henry's art just isn't good enough to stand on its own! What a horrible injustice to an artist's life's work! The only worthwhile aspects of this film are the comments of the people who actually knew him. They stand out in odd contrast to the goofiness of the animation, hinting that something much darker was lurking in Henry's mind, something that the filmmakers wanted to gloss over. I truly hope that a talented filmmaker makes a more serious attempt at the subject of Henry, his life, and his art. He deserves better than this. In the meantime we will have to be content with some of the excellent books written about him.
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