In the Realms of the Unreal

In the Realms of the Unreal is a 2004 American documentary film written and directed by Jessica Yu about American outsider artist Henry Darger (1892–1973).[1][2][3]

This article is about the documentary. For the book, see In the Realms of the Unreal (book). For the short story by Ambrose Bierce, see The Realm of the Unreal.
In the Realms of the Unreal
Directed byJessica Yu
Written byJessica Yu
Produced bySusan West
Joan Huang
StarringLarry Pine
Frier McCollister
Wally Wingert
Janice Hong
Narrated byDakota Fanning
CinematographyRussell Harper
Edited byJessica Yu
Music byJeff Beal
Distributed byForward Entertainment
Mongrel Media
Wellspring Media
Release date
  • 2004 (2004)
Running time
81 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Summary

An obscure janitor during his life, Darger is known for the posthumous discovery of his elaborate 15,145-page fantasy manuscript entitled The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glandeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Caused by the Child Slave Rebellion, along with several hundred watercolor paintings, collages and other drawings illustrating the story.[4][5][6]

Content

The film's style is atypical of a documentary. Because there are only three known photographs of Darger, and because of his reclusive lifestyle, the film is mostly a narrated biographical account, accompanied by animated versions of events from his magnum opus, which is also surveyed in detail. Interviews with his few neighbors and other acquaintances are included. The film's use of a child actor as its narrator is also unconventional as Dakota Fanning was only seven years old when she narrated the film.[7][8][9]

Reception

The film has a 70% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and a score of 74 on Metacritic.[10][11]

Accolades

The film won the National Film Board Award for Best Documentary at the 2004 Vancouver International Film Festival[12] while it was also nominated for Best Documentary Screenplay from the Writers Guild of America and a Gotham Award for Best Documentary.[13][14][15]

References
  1. EW.com
  2. HuffPost
  3. 'Unreal' and unrevealing - Los Angeles Times
  4. Treasures from the Yale Film Archive: IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL|Yale University Library
  5. The Fantasy World of a Mysterious Artist - The New York Times
  6. 'In the Realms' of an Outsider - The Washington Post
  7. CINEMABLEND
  8. Slant Magazine
  9. Deseret News
  10. Rotten Tomatoes
  11. Metacritic
  12. Wellspring Announces Deal for Oscar Contender “In The Realms of the Unreal”|IndieWire
  13. "2004 Winners and nominees". Gotham Independent Film Awards. Archived from the original on February 19, 2017. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  14. "WGA serves up 1st doc kudo to 'Super'". variety.com. Variety. 15 February 2005. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  15. Gotham Awards laud best indie features - Variety
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