In the Realms of the Unreal Poster

In the Realms of the Unreal (2004)

Jan 15, 2004 Documentary 1h 21m
71%
User Score
7.3/10
69%
74/100

The Mystery of Henry Darger

Overview

In the Realms of the Unreal is a documentary about the reclusive Chicago-based artist Henry Darger. Henry Darger was so reclusive that when he died his neighbors were surprised to find a 15,145-page manuscript along with hundreds of paintings depicting The Story of the Vivian Girls, in What is Known as the Realms of the Unreal, of the Glodeco-Angelinnian War Storm, Cased by the Child Slave Rebellion.

Jessica Yu
Director

Top Billed Cast

Henry Darger
Henry Darger

Himself
Larry Pine
Larry Pine

Henry Darger (Voice)
Dakota Fanning
Dakota Fanning

Narrator/Vivian Girls (Voice)
Frier McCollister
Frier McCollister

Voice
Wally Wingert
Wally Wingert

Voice
Mary O'Donnell
Mary O'Donnell

Herself (Neighbor)
Kiyoko Lerner
Kiyoko Lerner

Herself (Landlady)

Full Cast & Crew

Media

IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL - trailer
IN THE REALMS OF THE UNREAL - trailer
Trailer
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Reviews

A review by CRCulver

Written on September 14, 2018

This is a 2004 documentary film by Jessica Yu introducing the life and work of Henry Darger. A major figure of "outsider art", Darger's work was only discovered after his death when his landlords found thousands of pages of text and paintings in his room. Through his long life, he was known to his few friends and associates only as a janitor in a local hospital. Secretly, he wrote a massive manuscript chronicling the rebellion of girl slaves in a fantasy world, painted with watercolors of the heroines and battles.

Yu has chosen three main narrators for the documentary. A little girl (Dakota Fanning, even) narrates Darger's biographical facts, while excerpts from Darger's autobiography are reads by an old man (Larry Pine), and texts from his fantasy epic are read by some fellow with a ra...

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