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| Rachel Korine, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, James Franco and Vanessa Hutchens in Harmony Korine's shameless Spring Breakers |
Harmony Korine’s Spring Breakers is pointless filth aimed at an MTV audience -yet simultaneously captivating. Like all his films, it is a gorgeously made piece of art that embraces human ugliness. In this film, he utilizes the teen-star fame of Vanessa Hutchens and Selena Gomez for box office draw to a film that is decadent to the max.
Spring Breakers is steeped within the superficial minds of a group of college girls obsessed with having the ultimate Florida spring break adventure filled with excessive partying, drugs and sex. Their funds are dramatically short and they resort to terrorizing the patrons and employees of a late-night diner with squirt guns (made to look like real guns) and rob the place before hitting the road.
Their debauchery leads them to meeting a sleazy (understatement) G-dog rapper/drug dealer named Alien, played with terrifying hilarity by James Franco who wants the girls to be a part of his life. The grill on his teeth, the braided hair, tattoos, and giant sunglasses all come together to make Franco into perfect sleaze. I’m still wondering what he was doing in Oz the Great and Powerful. He wasn't effective in that. He’s awesome in this.
Spring Breakers is a movie that made me feel despair for the human race. Korine’s cinematic approach is too nihilistic to even bother taking a stance on the material. I felt a sense of hatred as I watched it, but as I got further into it, there was nothing to do but laugh -constantly.
The lighting, cinematography, editing, and music all culminate into the trance-inducing greatness I have come to expect from Korine projects. It all achieves a non-linear drugged-out state of mind portraying the world of party-girls and criminals to such a ridiculous degree, you feel as though you are being presented this movie’s wet-dream of itself. This is one of the most negative films I’ve seen in a while, but I can honestly say I wasn’t bored for one minute.
Props to Riff Raff for promoting this movie as being biographical! Brilliant joke. Korine says it has nothing to do with Riff Raff, but really? Its almost true regardless of the intention.
ReplyDeletePreviews didn't do much for me, but I'm gonna have to rent this after reading your review.