young 12 year old boy masturbates in a piece of raw meat.....young nude girl bites an old mans toenails....young boys use a cat for sex.....mother falls in a tomato truck and gets pregnant by tomato....dad and mom watch son evacuate his bowels and clap when he does it. IS THAT ENUFF FOR YOU. and some say i didn't understand the film and it is a masterpiece. sorry but this movie is rotten to the core. and im french..and i don't betray my people because the movie C.R.A.Z.Y was a million times better. leolo is an absolute disaster. 1 point for cinematography though...and thats it. THOSE who loved it well.......good for you but you ain't no friend of mine

One big idea of the movie is how when Léolo discovers his sexuality everything changes for him. He describes how he loses interest in and even forgets the things he learned at school. Also the narrative reflects this, in the parts in which Léolo is younger, I'm guessing his age at seven, his reality is a different, less nihilistic one. It's also reflected in the depiction of his siblings. Then they were regular kids, now they are all prime nuthouse material, and also look completely different and simply degenerated. Even his brother is too strong to even walk properly and don't even get me started on his brain.I think in general 'Léolo' shows the parts of childhood that usually aren't spoken about, and are especially rarely seen in film. It tells stories of maximum perversity that still can concern a healthy child, I don't think we are dealing with a demented individual per se.The film isn't just pulp, which it could be seen as because of the extreme material that, no doubt is supposed to shock, but there are a lot of moments and observations that ring true, like for example crazy, irrational ideas that somehow run in a family and which the children are forced to live by. I'm of course talking about the "one sh!t a day keeps the doctor away" scene, which is just an extreme example of a situation that we probably all know. Or how about the "Queen Rita" business; Léolo's sister who has a stable enough mind under sick conditions (living underground as the queen of insects), yet without those conditions her mind can't take it anymore and it's her that is sick.Another moment that comes to mind which hit home with me was when Léolo's mother kills insects in a jar by filling up the glass with hot water. It's exactly what my mother would have done. And such a pointless endeavor it is, isn't it? Why not just throw it away somewhere? Why personally kill them all like that? Léolo cries over the dead insects as if a world broke down for him. "If life - any life - can be destroyed so easily and so pointlessly, then why not my own life too? If their life didn't matter then why does any life matter, why does anything matter? After all, those insects once existed and lived in this world, just like I do." Could thoughts like those go through a boy's mind as he's crying over the insect victims of his mother? "Because I dream, I am not." is a sentence often repeated in the film. After a while I understood what Léolo meant. In one scene Léolo even specifically says: "I was a spectator of my own life." He "is not", he doesn't exist, because his mind revolves more around his imagination. If the world around you doesn't affect your thinking, and your actions don't reflect the world around you, then you might as well be a living brain in a jar which only dreams. Depending on the way you look at it "Because I dream, I am not" can be a very nihilistic attitude because it denigrates dreaming, but it can also be a powerful and useful one to motivate you to get your ass up and do something. The question is which one is it in the case of Léolo's character? Knowingly or unknowingly the film gives off the impression that Léolo blames his bleak environment for his inevitable escape into Imaginationland™.I remember how much I laughed and how often I was positively shocked of disgust when I saw the film the first time, often having both things occur at the same time. Two things I distinctively remembered about 'Léolo' from back then > Léolo's brother who bulked up after he was beaten up by a stronger kid, and the liver humping.Arguable flaws of the film are a narrative that doesn't head towards anything, rather it is a collection of episodes in the life of a boy, and it's a bit muddled in its vision, I felt.The last impression with which I left the film? In the end all that is left of a human being, at best, is a story that is told and remembered for a moment in time. Literature or any kind of art that people leave behind is there to make the living dream, to make their lives more worthwhile through the act of making dreams come to life. So the dead as well as the living profit from such a piece of art left behind. And a story such as Léolo's we all have in us. If we dare to tell it it is the last part of us that survives.

My review is intended, to add to information, given earlier by other reviewers.It is difficult to fully appreciate this film on one viewing. I really liked the films complexity, brilliantly directed, with nice background soundtrack..Leo adopts Italian name Leolo. No one else goes along with this save his mother when she fears he is near to death, late in film. There are many dream sequences set in Sicily Italy, the country of his beautiful neighbour Bianca.Save for young Leo and his mother during the course of this film; their entire family are in and out of institutions for the mentally disordered.We move quickly between totally unrelated scenes. Brief episodes, adding up to a whole.Leolo makes written record of his thoughts and fantasies. These writings are a continuing philosophical self analysis, an appraisal of his life at any given time. One would think far too deep to be expounded by a child. These pages are discovered and then read intermittently throughout the film by an observer.Leolo lives out sexual fantasies, employing strange accessories, something he has in common with his friends during this film. He seems to have an affinity with water. His grandfather in rage holds him under water. He is employed by his dim 'muscled' brother, as a diver, in filthy waters, to gather fishing tackle, knives et cetera, or anything they can sell.After the failed murder episode Leolo hospitalised because of his injuries.We find Leolo again in hospital, this time with a serious illness. Leolo is seen near the end of the film,floating naked overnight, in a bath of ice. This apparently a cure in those times for certain illnesses. (Initially thought Leolo to be dead).The episode where Leolo tries to murder his naked grandfather in his bath using a pulley system and hoist, reminiscent of Gerard Hoffnungs Bricklayer's Story.Hoffnung's story hilarious. Leolo's unsuccessful attempt to murder grandfather, dramatic and spectacular; proving dangerous for them both.(I give an shortened version Hoffnung's story at end of this review.). Bricklayer's story.I rigged up a beam, with a pulley, at the top of the building and hoisted up a couple of barrels of bricks. When I had fixed the building, there were lots of bricks left over. I hoisted the barrel back up again, secured the line at the bottom and then went up and filled the barrel with extra bricks. Next, I went to the bottom and cast off the rope. Unfortunately, the barrel of bricks was heavier than me. Before I knew what was happening, the barrel started down, jerking me off the ground. Decided to hang on! Halfway up, I met the barrel coming down, received a severe blow on the shoulder. I then continued to the top, banging my head against the beam. When barrel hit ground, it burst it's bottom... allowing all the bricks to spill out. I was now heavier than the barrel and so started down again at high speed! Halfway down... I met the barrel coming up and received severe injury to my shins. When I hit the ground... I landed on the bricks, getting several painful cuts from the sharp edges! At this point. I let go of the line! The barrel then came down... giving me a very heavy blow.Note for IMDb staff. IIn lieu of printing story you might wish to advise viewers to look up in Google under Gerard Hoffnung's Bricklayers Story.Please feel free to edit this review should any part prove unsuitable for your website.Sincerely, Michael Darlow.

I missed the first 30 minutes of this travesty but what i did see was sick, disgusting, vulgar and worst of all....pointless and unfunny. i can appreciate sick, weird and even vulgar---but what was the point? & was it supposed to be funny? the kid screwing a cat? i mean, what was that? the 2 scrawny 9yr olds having "sex" w/ the fat lady in the dirty alley. gross. the kid trying to hang his grandfather in the bathtub--& the conclusion to that incident was.......???? nothing. life just went on like it never happened & where the hell was the grandfather? it was like each scene was merely for shock value and i hate when movies try hard to shock. oh & the corny french guy & his poetic narrations that tried to make every scene sound prophetic was enough to get the eyes rolling. & the ending w/ the kid under the bed? what was that all about? then the movie ends with the cheezy french guy going on about how funny life is sometimes. come on. the only good thing i saw in the movie was the hunky muscular older brother who walked around in a wife-beater & undies. his little brother was a total perv and annoying to boot. i wish they'd shown more of his hunky brother. this movie gets the big thumbs down....except for the muscleboy. peace OUT!