tammy tillinghast "Julian Po" can be described as a darkly comedic drama with romantic undertones. Mostly, though, "Julian Po" is just strange.The film stars Christian Slater in the title role and, in terms of a very basic plot, somewhat resembles Hal Hartley's "Henry Fool." Like Henry, Julian wanders into an unnamed town and turns its residents' lives into a frenzy. However, unlike the joyfully arrogant Mr. Fool, Julian is glum, mysterious, and basically wants to stay anonymous. A 30-year-old bookkeeper, he apparently was on his way to the sea when his car broke down, and he decided to stop in the little town. He checks into a broken-down hotel and immediately his presence strikes up curiosity in the weirdo townspeople. Thanks to the redneck-ish hotel manager ... the town mayor, his wife, the sheriff, the priest, etc. are all soon aware of Julian. They are also very suspicious of him! Some of them think he's a drug dealer, and the mayor's wife also convinces many of them that Julian is some sort of serial killer and has come to their town to kill again. Finally, they confront Julian in a restaurant, bombarding him with questions and demanding to know why he is there. Julian blurts out his answer; he did in fact come to the town to kill somebody ... himself.This is where the movie gets really odd. All of a sudden, the townspeople are fascinated by Julian! They start stopping by his hotel room to chat and bring gifts. They confide their darkest secrets; they also come to Julian for advice, and take what he tells them to heart. A whole bunch of the townspeople, led by a gang of young boys, literally follow him around everywhere. The hotel manager presents him with a gun to do the deed, and an old woman even starts taking bets on which day Julian will "off" himself!Julian is baffled by this, and vaguely annoyed, but mostly he humors the townsoddballs. And when a pretty young woman named Sarah comes to his hotel room, tells Julian she has been waiting for him all her life, and starts kissing him ... he's thrilled. (*spoiler alert*)Unfortunately, Julian's relationship with Sarah leads her to take her own life, as some kind of love proclamation. The townsfolk aren't happy with this; as a result, they more or less force Julian to do what he came to do.Quirky as that story might sound, surprisingly "Julian Po" works. I've seen the film a few times now, and it's one of those movies I like a little more with each viewing. Writer-director Alan Wade succeeds at both of his jobs, particularly with his offbeat script. And Patrick Williams' score is lovely, haunting, and effective. However, the strongest of "Julian Po"'s assets are its characters -- and the talented cast that brings these characters to life. Christian Slater is fabulous as Julian! Tunney brings a nice intensity to her portrayal of the sweater-knitting Sarah. Also noteworthy, in smaller roles, are: Cherry Jones as the hotel manager's mute housekeeper sister who may or may not have a crush on Julian (though her inquisitive eyes and perpetual frown might bug some at first); Allison Janney as the gossipy, busybody mayor's wife, Lilah Leech; Jeremy Jordan as Bobby, a mechanic who wants to be a movie star -- despite the fact that he says "Are you talking' to me?!" in the same tone he says everything else; Dina Spybey as Bobby's mousy blonde wife, who pledges to do anything for Julian; and Zeljko Ivanek as the men's clothing store owner -- who confesses to Julian his crush on Leon, the town sheriff. Many members of this cast are staples on Broadway, and that shows in their performances. ("Julian Po" is in fact very play-like.) I must also give mention to young Io Tillett Wright. Miss Wright is a girl, but if I didn't happen to know that fact ... well, let's just say her portrayal of a boy named Walter makes Hilary Swank in "Boys Don't Cry" look like the girliest icon of femininity. Wright looks like a boy, walks like a boy, talks like a boy. I guess it's a testament to Wright's acting skills, but it did make me wonder -- why not just cast a boy? There are a few things wrong with "Julian Po" that make me unable to rate it higher than I did. One big problem I had with the movie was its portrayal of the town pastor. At first, he is just kind of overearnest. Later on, though, a talk with Julian leads to a sermon in which the pastor announces, with great zeal, that he doesn't believe in God. This is yet another similarity the film shares with "Henry Fool" ... but at least in 'Henry' the pastor was more of a doubter ... and not an out-and-out goon like the pastor in this movie. Granted, almost everybody in "Julian Po" is a goon -- but, still, I do get tired of almost all religious characters in movies being played as evil or foolish. It's so unoriginal. Religion does not always make someone a bad guy.But my other gripes about "Julian Po" are mostly minor...e.g. the film takes awhile to get into. Overall, if you're a fan of small quirky movies, "Julian Po" is worth checking out. And if you don't like it at first, give it another chance...it just might grow on you.

whpratt1 Just the name of the picture makes you want to see if this is a BOMB or an interesting story! As I watched the beginning of the picture and watched Christian Slater,(Julian Po),"Mindhunters",'04, stroll down this very old town that looked like it was from the Dark Ages, it started to capture my interest. Julian Po picks this town to sort of destroy himself and runs into all kinds of situations, meeting a minister, barber, hotel owner and lots of women for warm romantic SEX! Po meets Robin Tunney,(Sarah),"Paparazzi",'04 who arranges all kinds of candles around his bed and falls madly in love with him. Christian Slater and Robin Tunney gave outstanding performances in a rather difficult character role. You can possibly laugh and cry with this film.

dementia100 I think that the reason that Julian's past was not reflected was because they want people to relate. For example, If julian was going to kill himself because he...I don't know, let's say, killed his sister and was on the run, we wouldn't be able to relate to that because we've, hopefully, have never done such a thing.Instead, they chose to keep Julian's past unknown, so when he states that he is going to kill himself, we can all relate, because, and lets all admit, we have thought about it before. They want us to use our imaginations (and for some of you, this may be hard) as to what his past consisted of, because they want us to relate to this movie in one way or another and say "oh, I can understand what he feels, I've been there too."I also think that there was alot of symbolism. The townspeople saw the comming of Julian as somethink particular and strange when he first arrived, but when they found out that he was going to kill himself, they saw this as an opportunity to help a human being, hence the fact that they gave him several gifts and attention. But when he chose not to kill himself, the town felt taken for their good nature; they gave to him, trying to make his last days meaningful and with kind people, however expecting him to later take his own life. This, I think, is the meaning of the movie.

Koosh-2 This was a movie I had no history of prior to viewing. I watched it out of curiosity and boredom. It was not a waste of time.Though it begins rather vague, the story quickly picks up withen the first 20 minutes. You find yourself laughing as the movie progresses at the many different and unusual reactions of the townspeople to Julian's announcement of suicide.Though sometimes dragging, quotes like "You can all go home! I'm not going to kill myself today!" make the movie worthwhile.The weak-excused ending may seem frustrating, but it leaves you with a sense of awe as the credits roll and you watch for a few minutes thinking "What now?"In my book, any movie that leaves me speechless and thinking at the end is a good one. And if you liked this, may I also suggest Gods and Monsters (1998).