Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers

Fysh · 10-04-2013 11:07pm

Kinski wrote: »

Really? I thought there was almost nothing but silliness. And three of the four girls were almost indistinguishable character-wise.

Though I also felt that perhaps that was the whole point - doing a dumb-trashy movie in an arthouse style.

Ah, but I didn't say that their stories were different

I agree that they aren't hugely differentiated as characters - personality-wise, we've really only got three different people spread across four bodies in the film; and two of those three are only differentiated by their willingness to put themselves in danger.

They all seem to be shaped by a combination of boredom of the place they've grown up and a lack of imagination to dream up any kind of better prospect for themselves than prolonged periods of getting blotto and partying. That doesn't mean that examining their lives and how they progress as a result of these two factors that shape tehir decisions won't be interesting (at least, if presented in the right way, which is true of most stories).

johnny_ultimate · 10-04-2013 11:57pm

Fysh wrote: »

(
well, except perhaps the closing sequence in which every one of the gangster's thugs are revealed to have graduated from the Stormtrooper School of Marksmanship, allowing two inexperienced and practically naked teenage girls to gun them all down
).

That scene has to be ridiculous.

At that point the girls have achieved this absurd level of enlightenment and purity - it was incited by depravity and debauchery, but in their way they have come to believe that this is indeed "the most spiritual place" they've ever been. By the the time they've become a two person army they've transcended the world they've found themselves in. The key is in that oft-repeated chant that "pretend you're in a video game... or a movie". These two girls are briefly immortal, the lines between fantasy and reality long since blurred. They're living this ugly, violent, horrible American dream and nothing can stop them. It can stop Alien, of course, but even he achieves euphoria and is gunned down in a moment of pure bliss. "Spring break forever", he endlessly repeats, and no doubt in his own way he's gotten that wish.

That all of that spiritual stuff occurs in a barrage of neon, violence, sex, drugs and alcohol is just one of the film's many mad contradictions! And it further perhaps reinforces comparisons to The Tree of Life - but where Malick is completely sincere, Korine is operating on various levels of irony, satire and even pure disdain. For those reasons, that sequence needs to operate on an extra level of fantasy and absurdity. But even then in the strange, hazy experience that is watching this film, there is something horribly beautiful about it all.

Kylo Ren · 14-04-2013 12:30am

Easily one of the worst movies I have ever seen. Four people, a few rows ahead of us, actually got up and just left before it ended.

14-04-2013 2:02am

Just after seeing it and far as I'm concerned it's the film of the year to date for me.

It's one of the most beautiful films I have seen in a long time and the closest comparison you could make is to the work of Terrence Malick or the criminally under-seen I Come With the Rain. The visuals were hypnotic and the repetition of images and dialogue/sound was brilliantly implementation, helping create a dream like atmosphere.

The narrative is straightforward albeit told in a somewhat nonlinear narrative that relied heavily on foreshadowing to create a constant sense of uneasy. Once Franco was introduced and the rivalry was brought up it was clear where the film was going and cliched as it was, Kormine managed to infuse it with some originality in the manner in which enlightenment was reached by our pink balaclava wearing anti-heroes. It's a film rich in imagery and one that I will be retuning to time and again.

The_Gatsby · 14-04-2013 2:24am

I thought the fact that they kept mentioning "pretend it's a game/movie" was pretty important. I thought this in tied well when

at the end, the two girls gun down most of the other guys crew. Also, when Francos character gets shot the two girls don't bat an eye lid.

It was a game to them, something that had to be done.

Watching the trailer before going to see the film, I thought it was going to be a trashy teen project X type film but in the end I loved it. I thought it showed what teen culture is like and attitudes among young people towards crime, drugs and money. No consequences or forethought in any of their actions. Even when

the second girl to leave got shot in the arm

the other two weren't ever going to change their minds. It was a game and they had to finish it.

15-04-2013 5:08am

The_Gatsby wrote: »

I thought it showed what teen culture is like and attitudes among young people towards crime, drugs and money. No consequences or forethought in any of their actions. Even when
the second girl to leave got shot in the arm
the other two weren't ever going to change their minds. It was a game and they had to finish it.

I don't think that it's the least bit representative of how teen/young adults views crime, drugs and money. It's a fantasy that isn't offering an indept examination of youth culture but rather it's Kormine having a little fun. The film is pure escapism and that many scenes feel like extended music videos only adds to this. There are thematic similarities to Kormine's other work, the broken dreams of youths, indulging in excess in order to alleviate the day to day boredom of their lives, etc but much like it's characters it's a film that is there to revel in the excess rather than explore how today's youths view the world.

The_Gatsby · 15-04-2013 10:09am

Deleted User wrote: »

I don't think that it's the least bit representative of how teen/young adults views crime, drugs and money. It's a fantasy that isn't offering an indept examination of youth culture but rather it's Kormine having a little fun. The film is pure escapism and that many scenes feel like extended music videos only adds to this. There are thematic similarities to Kormine's other work, the broken dreams of youths, indulging in excess in order to alleviate the day to day boredom of their lives, etc but much like it's characters it's a film that is there to revel in the excess rather than explore how today's youths view the world.

I don't know much about films at all but I thought it showed an exaggerated version of things that rappers like Alien talk about in their songs and things that are seen as a gangster lifestyle, which a lot of young people idolize and aspire to have. Alien even says in the film that that lifestyle is all he's ever wanted

Vito Corleone · 22-07-2013 12:40am

Big fan of Korine but I did not like this film at all. It just seemed... empty to me.

meoklmrk91 · 22-07-2013 1:47am

I thought this was interesting film, when I first saw it I was a bit perplexed and thought it was quite vacant but over the last couple of weeks it has started to resonate with me more and more. I actually found it quite tiring to watch, you are bombarded by the visuals and audio.

I will be giving it a repeat watch, the thing I have come to realise is that you don't actually really have to "enjoy" a film for it to be good, for instance I really didn't enjoy Schindlers list, I found it tough to watch, emotionally tiring, but it resonates with me on a level that 99.9% films don't.

The performances were really interesting, James Franco was almost unrecognisable. I found Gomez quite good as well as Hudgens but I think Ashkey Benson was the stand out among the girls.

Vito Corleone · 22-07-2013 3:30am

One thing I love about Korine's films is there is a realism to them. Kids, Gummo etc... are shocking and controversial yet they are believable. They show something that many people may not know about but it exists, it's real and that's why it's powerful. Spring Breakers doesn't do this. It's overly exaggerated and lacks any real substance. I don't care about plots, some of the best films I've seen have had no plots, but this film, personally, I feel was Korine throwing eggs at the mainstream.

BTW, I'd really recommend you guys watch Korine's interviews on Letterman. They're very entertaining, he's an interesting guy. Here's him in 1995.

Sad Professor · 22-07-2013 3:47am

It treads a very fine line between being a satire and a celebration of the cultural hedonism it depicts, which will prevent many people from embracing it. But like Scarface and other controversial films that seem to encapsulate a particular time and place, it will probably grow in stature in the years to come.

I thought it was absolutely superb. One of the best films of the year.

07-05-2014 7:47pm

In oddest announcement of the day it seems that we will be getting a Spring Breakers sequel written by Irvine WWelsh and directed by Jonus Ackerland. Title Spring Breakers: The Second Coming it'll be a standalone film which only alludes to some of the characters in the original and will follow a group of girls going up against religions fundamentalists.

e_e · 07-05-2014 7:52pm

Out of all the mainstream films that took on the American dream in 2013 I still find this to be the most provocative, beautiful, challenging and layered. I feel it's been harshly misunderstood in some circles.

johnny_ultimate · 07-05-2014 10:01pm

Wouldn't blame someone for thinking it falls on the wrong side of the aforementioned fine line: I disagree, but at the same time if its dreamy rhythm doesn't hook you then there's a lot of neon filth and ugliness to wade through

Odd choice for a sequel, though. Suppose it would be interesting to see what some other provocative directors do with the material, but that fine line is just waiting to be tripped over in glorious fashion.

They'll never top Everytime, though, which might me the pinnacle of cinema as an artform thus far.

07-05-2014 11:30pm

Hopefully the sequel will be an independent, stand alone tale that's a sequel in name only. The first film was something of an unexpected hit and if interesting filmmakers can get some otherwise risky films up and running simply by adding Spring Breakers to the title then I'm all for it. Long as we don't get some retread of the original or some visually flat, low budget direct to disc venture this could be a winner

Tomagotchye · 16-04-2015 8:28pm

Spriiiiing breeeeaaaaaak yooooooo! "Bikini's and big booties yo. That's what life is about!" Deeply interesting film

Harmony Korine's Spring Breakers

Comments