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In the Realms of the Unreal (2003)

In the Realms of the Unreal (2003)
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Award-winning short filmmaker Jessica Yu makes her feature-length debut with In the Realms of the Unreal, a documentary about outsider artist Henry Darger. Born in 1892, Darger lived in Chicago and worked as a janitor for most of his life. When he died in 1972, his landlord found his life's work: The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion (often simply referred to as The Realms). A massive, multiple-volume fantasy novel, The Realms also contains nearly 300 illustrations of collages, drawings, and paintings. Rather than interview art scholars and psychologists, Yu chooses to look at Darger's work from the viewpoints of those who knew him. Yu also incorporates animation segments into the documentary, using Darger's original images. In the Realms of the Unreal was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the documentary competition. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

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Starring:
Larry Pine, Dakota Fanning, (more)
Director(s):
Jessica Yu
Format(s):
DVD
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Synopsis of In the Realms of the Unreal

Award-winning short filmmaker Jessica Yu makes her feature-length debut with In the Realms of the Unreal, a documentary about outsider artist Henry Darger. Born in 1892, Darger lived in Chicago and worked as a janitor for most of his life. When he died in 1972, his landlord found his life's work: The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion (often simply referred to as The Realms). A massive, multiple-volume fantasy novel, The Realms also contains nearly 300 illustrations of collages, drawings, and paintings. Rather than interview art scholars and psychologists, Yu chooses to look at Darger's work from the viewpoints of those who knew him. Yu also incorporates animation segments into the documentary, using Darger's original images. In the Realms of the Unreal was shown at the Sundance Film Festival in 2004 as part of the documentary competition. ~ Andrea LeVasseur, Rovi

Theatrical Feature Running Time:
82 mins

Complete Cast of In the Realms of the Unreal


Director(s):
Jessica Yu
Writer(s):
Jessica Yu
Producer(s):
Susan West, Jessica Yu
Categories:
Documentary, Special Interest
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    Tom S.

    Henry Darger was an abused and damaged individal who lived largely in his own fanatsy world. In real life he was a sad, lonely recluse, a lowly janitor, wracked by guilt and religious fears. Inside his world he was a knight protecor of innocence and children. A self taught artist and author, he built, populatd and illustrated his world. Just before dying, his secret was discovered by astounded neighbors. After his death scholars and artists pored over his work, which now sells for thousands of dollars. This filmaker captures the fairy-tale world using his art and writings in a fascinating story. Well worth watching if you are an art lover or student of humanity.

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    Carol C.

    This movie was excellent. I was previously educated somewhat about Darger. Had I not been, I would probably have had to watch the film twice in order to attend more closely to the details of the story. One should definitely watch the section with Jessica Wu, the filmmaker. It adds some tremendous information. In fact, one should probably watch the interview with Wu prior to watching the actual film.

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    Sally N.

    I confess, I had to watch this documentary twice to understand the film-maker's structure of it. With little known about Darger, Yu confesses trying to show his life through his bazaar collection of work, which includes 30,000 pages of a manuscript (15K of which are this fantasy world called "In the Realms of the Unreal) and hundreds of child-like paintings. No one can seem to decide whether Darger was an eccentric, schizophrenic, child pornographer, or even more bazaar... murderer?? But he lived his reclusive life enigmatically. This is a fascinating documentary on a man's art work created for an audience of one. And definitely illustrates how original art is best created without social editing (i.e. Van Gogh, Handel, etc.). I can't say I appreciated his artwork, but there's no denying it had a sense of originality. But beware, it is bazaar.

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